Inside Men

This review may contain spoilers!

This film was rather slow but finished on an incredibly high note. I would give Inside Men a 6/10.

This film has an exceptionally well done final act, the amount of plot twists and intense scenes make the first two thirds of the film worth sitting through. The cinematography in this film is exceptional, the director has to be commended for making this film so visually appealing throughout. The score for Inside Men is quite intense when it kicks in, it definitely enhances some of the best scenes of the film. I love the action sequences and the torture sequences in this film; it makes this feel more like an intense crime film than blockbusters like Black Mass and Legend.

Lee Byung-hun, who played Ahn Sang-goo, was a fantastic co-lead and had great chemistry with Seung-woo; I liked the banter he delivered with other characters it really brought a lot of wit to the film. Baek Yoon-sik, who played Lee Kang-hee, was an antagonist who really developed and grew as the film progressed; I loved his line delivery the most out of everyone in the cast. Lee Geung-young, who played Jang Pil-woo, was another fantastic memorable antagonist in this film; I loved how raw and wild his performance was - he was a true loose cannon.

However the best performance came from Jo Seung-woo, who played Woo Jang-hoon. I liked the earnest nature of Seung-woo, he played headstrong and determined very well. He shared some fantastic onscreen chemistry with Byung-hun that really made the film what it was. The peak of Seung-woo's performance came in two places, one was this terrifying moment where you see him freaking out as he starts to lose to the antagonists. However the best part is the twist of this film: you are quite convinced that Seung-woo has joined the antagonists only to learn that he's betrayed them; the reason I cite this as great is because this twist would have been predictable if it weren't for Seung-woo's convincing acting.

This film is very dragged out and you spend a lot of the first twenty minutes trying to figure out character connections and what is actually going on in the plot; as a result the pacing of the film is severely affected. There are a lot of unnecessary scenes and predictable moments in this film as well, so as a whole the film became a bit stale and boring after a short while. The editing was very simple, the cutting didn't heighten the film and let down the beautiful cinematography.

Bae Seong-woo, who played Park Jong-pal, was a weak minor character in this film; he never really matched up to the talents he performed against like Byung-hun or Geung-young.