The Divine Move (2014)

This revenge movie set in a baduk gambling world was exciting. I liked that even though it was an action movie with hand to hand fighting it was also about contests on a game board between smart and cunning people. The opening scene with Jung Woo Sung definitely grabbed my attention.

The action scenes in this movie had plenty of bone crushing, face pummeling and bloody stabbing of fighters. The characters were brutal at times. It was evident why Lee Beom Soo, as the underground gambler, had the nickname of Killer. He was merciless as the bad guy. All of the characters had nicknames very telling of their role or position. I thought the names were a bit obvious and wondered if it was a joke of the writer but at the same time it was entertaining. I especially liked Tricks, one of the players that Tae Seok recruits in his quest for vengeance. He was a somewhat comedic and light hearted relief to the graphic fight scenes and the more serious baduk game playing.

I am not familiar with the game of baduk so this backdrop of the movie was interesting. I imagine it is like chess. It seemed to involve extreme strategy. I would think a professional player must be able to foresee an unfathomable amount of scenarios of stone placement to excel at the game. I wonder if some of the scenes in the movie would have been more suspenseful if I could understand what was happening on the game board. I felt I got the general idea by watching the faces and actions of the players but I think I was a step behind someone who actually knows how the game is played. It was fascinating to see how intelligent a person must be to play this game. I thought the movie portrayed the sense of that very well.

The thing I enjoyed the most about this movie was the journey of Tae Seok while taking his revenge. His gathering of players to go against the gambling establishment reminded me of the Ocean’s Eleven movies. (Not that their motivation was the same but the gathering of various talents to beat an opponent was the same.) The build up of his plans and getting them in motion was in itself a big game. Tae Seok’s calm and focused demeanor as he goes about his retribution was a good watch. I thought the movie was clever and the exacting of his vengeance was fitting.

If I had an issue with the film it would be that the characters and some of their relationships could have been explored more in-depth. There isn’t much background or development to several characters or the relationships they have to one another. I had to fill in the blanks and infer several things while watching. I would have liked a clearer explanation to several points in the story.

The movie played at a quick pace and there was never a moment I felt it drag. I was actually surprised when the ending came. I really enjoyed this film, it could have been longer and it would have been fine with me.

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There was a whole part in the beginning that I LOVED so so much !!! During this part, Jung woo sung was simply amazing !

The rest of the movie, well I wasn't really into it.. Not that it was bad, I bet a lot of people will love it but I don't know, I felt like something was missing.. I mean, I think that the best part of the movie is set between the 15-20th first minutes to I'd say almost the 50th minutes and after that I expected so much and I didn't find the same feeling I had during the beginning...

Do not get me wrong, I loved this movie, there was lots of things I really liked !!! I particularly loved so much the characters in the entourage of Jung woo sung !!! Awesome Ahn Kil Kang, Daebak Ahn Sung Ki and funky Lee Bum Soo !! ^^ I not so much like the girl and I found the romance part particularly boring and totally useless. The big bad guy was a real mean, unscrupulous, ruthlessly asshole guy. Choi Jin Hyeok is pretty good in his way, we easily hate him without any remorse and I was surprised by his acting (in a good way).
The music really well suit each scene, I didn't expect less from the Koreans who always have one of the best ost ever.
The action, fighting scenes were amazing even if I think there might be a little too much blood. (Sensitive people, be careful.)

In the end I had a great time especially thanks to Jung woo sung and his special awesome team but I do have some regrets...
We were introduced to an awesome interesting mysterious character but never happen to really know about him and I missed that. And I was a little disappointed by a scene which looks Daebak on the trailer and was not so amazing in the movie.... :/

And a good point for the story to be cut in several parts just like the strategies of the go ! Loving it !!

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