Phantom Detective

This review may contain spoilers!

This was such a fun return to the crime noir genre for me. I would give Phantom Detective a 6.5/10.

This film manages to capture the gritty dark quality of crime noir films really well, the protagonist is very rough and the antagonist of the film is rooted deep in the systems of power. There were so many dramatic reveals and well written plot twists that I greatly enjoyed, I also thought the way comedic characters were used to provide something new to the genre was a great choice. The special effects were incredible, this looked like something straight out of a dark graphic novel or video game. The cinematography looked stunning, every shot helped create the really unique visual style of this film. The score was another great bonus, I loved the really gritty sound that accompanied each scene. Every fight sequence was very brutal and bloody, I can't believe this was an M rating because the fight were so vicious.

Lee Je-Hoon, who played Hong Gil-Dong, really embodied the protagonist of a crime noir film well; his insatiable drive for vengeance and his short temper were really well portrayed. Kim Sung-Kyun, who played Kang Sung-Il, was the perfect antagonist; his performance was very mysterious and enigmatic which made him all the more interesting. Roh Jeong-Eui, who played Dong-Yi, was a very empathetic performer; she was great at displaying an incredible range of emotions for such a young age. Park Geun-Hyung, who played Kim Byeong-Duk, gave a very realistic performance in this film; I loved the scene between him and Je-Hoon where he confesses he'd kill the man's mother again if he had to. Jung Sung-Hwa, who played the Innkeeper, was quite a great comedic role in this film; I enjoyed the fact he had such a righteous personality and attempted to save the grandfather by himself.

However the best performance came from Kim Ha-Na, who played Mal-Soon. This actress gave an incredible performance for someone so young, you cared so much about her because she had such strong moments of grief as well an almost naive sense of the events as they unfolded. The best part about her performance was that she was the most comedic performer in the film, her exchanges with Je-Hoon resulted in some of the best scenes of the film.

This film suffered from a backstory that was too complex, the story around GU Group was hard to wrap your head around and made the story more complicated than it needed to be. I also felt that the film went a bit too over the top, whether it was with it's dialogue or action scenes, to be taken too seriously as a film.

Go Ara, who played President Hwang, was a role that was never well developed in this film; her relationship with Je-Hoon's role was never explored in a satisfying way. Hwang Bo-Ra, who played Used Book Store Woman, was an annoying minor role; it felt like she didn't understand much of what she was doing in the scenes that she was in. Yoo Seung-Mok, who played Auto Repair Shop Owner, didn't have much screen presence in this film; he was one of the more forgettable members of the cast.