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Cast: Josiah D. Lee, Jennifer Voss, John Yost, Jack Erdie, Rik Billok, Rose Smith
A big city crime lord has been betrayed by four associates. With only hours until his immanent arrest, he calls in his deadliest cleaner to track down those responsible and get revenge. Will these four criminals, with interwoven pasts, be able to survive with their money and their lives as they are hunted down by.. the Korean.
I had a special interest in The Korean because it was filmed in my hometown and until now I knew nothing of it. The film is played out in a "Memento" type fashion. As the film opens Lee, also known as "The Korean" is taking action against several people whom we soon find out were his partners in crime as they all worked for the same crime boss but it is from there that story begins to use a non-linear narrative that slowly reveals little details on the story, filling us in a piece at a time like a puzzle. A thinking man's action flick for sure, Pittsburgh Grad, Thomas Dixon does a fantastic job telling the story and keeping the audience in suspense in his feature film debut. Obviously this was shot on a very low-budget but you could never tell by watching this flick, all the production values are amazing and the entire cast did a fantastic job playing out their roles. Director, Thomas Dixon also did an excellent job using different settings within the city to help tell his story, each location really helped set the mood required for each scene and gave the film the look needed to pull off a a film like this. The film has enough action to please any fan but there is also a well-written story here as well and the way the film is told it draws you in from the opening frames and never lets up till the end which I thought had a very nice twist to it. I cannot stress enough how impressed as I was with this film, Thomas Dixon is a filmmaker I hope to see a lot more off in the near future, as Writer,Director and Executive Producer on The Korean I thought he has made an incredible debut. If your a fan of films like "Pulp Fiction" then I suggest picking this one up regardless if you are from Pittsburgh or not. The Korean is a stylish action thriller that is both classy and captivating, a gritty tale that gives Tarantino a run for his money. Check back for release dates on when you can own this film on DVD. Released by Indican Pictures. *** 1/2 Out Of *****