Rough Cut (2008) User Reviews

pretty good

[chat_boy · 8/10 · 24 May 2013]

I started watching this movie, expecting a standard gangster action movie. And that's what I got.

But goddamn dude, the acting in this movie from the gangster guy was just so mesmerizing, that 2 hours went by like nothing. And to me the acting in this movie in general plus the interesting premise has elevated this to, like more than your typical gangster action movie.

sorry first review

anyhow this is a pretty good movie. It succeeds as a gangster action, but its like, more than that and you should watch it, cuz you could be pleasantly surprised

soo....8/10

watch it

and again I apologize, I know, it's a shitty review

An unconventional action drama

[kevinsutton · 8/10 · 21 August 2009]

Billed as an action movie by trailers, and occasionally funny, Rough Cut is a complex drama playing out underneath an amusing premise.

The two leads share great chemistry and rivalry but manage to avoid a lot of the stereotypes and clichés for buddy action/comedies. The actor must negotiate a deteriorating private and public life while learning how to be less of an ass; the gangster's journey is perhaps more enigmatic and very thought provoking. His trajectory isn't what you'd expect from Hollywood cinema.

The two characters have their own distinct lives, which are interwoven mostly through their commitment to the film, which punctuates the ending with what may be the only major full action scene. (and it's plenty visceral to behold) This movie is easy to get into, but deep enough to truly reflect on. It's a little gem of entertainment.

Kim Ki Duk did it again.

[athanasiosze · 8/10 · 11 September 2012]

Hard to describe this movie in a foreign language. You can read the other reviews for details, i believe that their descriptions are right. All i can say is that this movie is a strange movie, strange in a remarkable way. Kim Ki Duk has written the script, don't expect something heavy or depressing, expect a modern film noir(?) and some terrific performances from the actors. (The actor who plays the gangster gives one of the best performances i have seen recently). If you want to know some similar movies, i will not be able to help you, because, movies like this, are a genre of their own. I wonder in how many ways, Hollywood would destroy Kim Ki Duk's script: Τhis is not a comedy, this is not a gangster film, this is not a drama nor an action film, but it manages to combine all these and make something new. I am looking forward to watch his new movie, Pieta.

PS I haven't mentioned the director and this is not fair because he also did a great work.For sure,i will search for his other movies.

incredible FILM

[Jack_Coen · 11 January 2012]

Gang-pae, played by So Ji-sub, is a local organized crime leader who still wishes he could be in movies. Su-ta, played by Kang Ji-hwan, is a haughty actor who is easy to provoke. Within his latest film, where he plays a gangster, he gets into the role too much and sends one of the stuntmen to the hospital. The two men meet by chance at a room salon and Su-ta enlists Gang-pae to join the production. But this real life gangster will only join the production if the fights are real. The two main characters continue to try and one-up the other every chance they get (plot).

Rough Cut's interesting premise delves into parallel stories involving Gang-pae's gangster life, the filming of the movie within a movie, and Su-ta's shallow personal life, if the story seems convoluted don't worry, it is linear and doesn't bother to delve more than skin deep examining those issues, the film's focus is rather on two men and their violent confrontations on screen. Ji-seob So becomes an incredibly charismatic figure, using his calm, cool demeanor that houses a monsoon of emotions underneath, Ji-seob So quickly takes over the film until it is literally his movie. His counterpart Ji-hwan Kang, performs satisfactorily as "Su-ta," but there is a mile difference between their screen presence. Rough Cut has what it takes to win you over with ease.

Watch it, it has all of the elements of a good JPF movies film—which is hard to come by, and yes Dangerous you will like the choreography of the fights scenes in this film, I recommend this film to every one like some drama or crime drama with a few decent fight scenes thrown in.

5/5

Clash of the egos

[KineticSeoul · 7/10 · 3 October 2009]

The story revolves around a egoistic rising star and a gangster who who is trying to get his boss out of jail. There path eventually cross and end up disliking each other, but the situation the actor is in makes him ask the gangster to co-star in the film with him. The Gangster agree, but in one condition, they fight for real on camera.

The character that stood out the most for me was Ji-seob So role and acting, he really does show off all his charms from him looking threatening without speaking a word while being in calm composure. While Ji-Hwan Kang did the best he can with the role he is given, unfortunately Su-hyeon Hong was just a pretty face in the movie. Watching the movie making process from the two somewhat of a rival was intriguing to watch. There is some thrown in this movie which I thought was unnecessary, but this was mostly character driven film. Even if the plot might not be solid as it should be, it is still a intriguing film to watch and is worth the time.

7/10

Despite an iconic final fight and a performance that may become the new benchmark in screen cool, this is too rambling a film to be truly great and instead is just very good

[dbborroughs · 7/10 · 19 June 2009]

One of the hot ticket films at this years New York Asian Film Festival concerns a hot actor who no one will work with because he tends to actually beat up his co-stars in the fight scenes. While partying one night he meets a gangster who once was an actor and who roughs up him up when a request for an autograph turns insulting. Everyone goes back to their own lives until the actor once more beats up his co-star and they need to find a replacement. The actor thinks of the gangster and before you know it the pair have agreed to really go at it in the fight scenes. From there the film spins out as the actor tries to handle his personal life (women, blackmail) and the gangster tries to get his boss out of prison and stay alive while romancing the leading lady.

Well acted, especially by Ji Seob So as the gangster, Kang-pae, who manages to say so much without really doing anything.Its the sort of performance that will make him big in America if the film gets a big release. As for the rest,all I can say its an odd film. Despite being billed as one, this is a film that isn't really an action film. Sure the film has action, both the movie fights but also explosive violence from the gangsters doing their normal line of work(the sound of violence can be a sickening thing), but mostly this is a rambling tale of a couple of lost souls trying to find themselves. In someways I'm not sure what I make of it. Other than the plot thread of the making of the film, this film rambles around with in the lives of its characters in a directed but not particularly charted way. Its good, but at the same time its a bit too rambling since bits don't completely connect the way they should. Don't get me wrong I like the film, the final fight between the costars is bound to become iconic and Ji Seob So is absolutely amazing in I have little doubt he will become a new level of screen cool, but the film never manages to reach the great level. Its good, often very good, just not great despite its attempts.

Somewhere around 7 out of 10 I'm not sure why some people have been angling this as the next great film from Korea.

Action yes, but hell of a character study as well

[findwilliams · 9/10 · 30 September 2013]

The arrogant action film actor is a bully with a temper and after one tantrum too many finds himself without any willing co-stars, so enter the inscrutable gangster who was in a movie once as an extra and still enjoys watching films. A request for an autograph leads to the first showdown between the actor and the gangster. Western films have led us to believe Joe Pesci and Robert De Niro (and now Steve Buscemi as Nucky Thompson) are the stereotypical gangsters that whack and or whip out a garrote at the smallest slight. Not the stoic Gang-pae, played so well by Ji-Seob So, who barely needs any dialog to convey his thoughts or reactions. From the moment he agrees to be on screen, and to fight for real, I began to get a feeling of dread. His line to the action star about finally becoming a real actor was as heartbreaking in its own way as the events that followed. Like I said, action yes, but the characters made made it a solid film.

A giant Truck that Crushes Your Expectations into Little Pieces of Regret!

[achi_oragvelidze · 9/10 · 16 July 2012]

First of all, I'd love to point out that I've seen all the 3 films of this director and this was the last one I saw.

When i got the glimpse of the faces of the two actors, I though This would be a predictable ''there is a problem'', ''gangster'' film. Nevertheless I watched it for the sake of the director.

(I highly recommend his two other films. Both are very very awesome.)

When the film was over, i was left speechless, shocked and regretfully happy inside my heart.

This film goes over the humane problems and unfolds all the rigid and complex architecture of attitudes in two people: a gangster and an actor.

Acting, script/Story/plot, scenes, originality: all 10/10. This film is a masterpiece and is Highly Recommended to anyone who appreciates complex and masterful directing. Just watch it. Pure awesomeness. You will not forget this.

Awesome

[MissLucifer666 · 9/10 · 23 June 2009]

I saw this movie quite a few times and I just can't have enough of it! I can't quite tell what it's so nice about this movie....just everything I guess. Well played, strong characters, not excessive like American movies and psychological. I will not give spoilers to this one because you'll have to discover on your own. Nobody like people who already start talking about the end when you never saw for yourself the movie... Just watch it!! Normally I love only horror movies, but this is a real good and I mean a real good action movie, wheel worth your time watching it!

Watch it you'll not regret it!

A movie is a movie.

[Dragon_Eye_Morrison · 5/10 · 16 February 2009]

"Acting is just faking" says a young and uprising gangster to a diva-like actor when they meet in an exclusive bar/restaurant near the beginning of "Rough Cut". The later surrounded by the controversy of his spoiled attitude on movie sets, the first dealing with a gang that has their main leader in jail. Their paths will cross once more, now as partners acting in the same movie, a crime action thriller, but under one condition: all their fight scenes must be real.

The premise of the film is quite interesting, an exploration of the movie-making process taken from the perspective of two young visceral men. The first half kept me quite interested, but after that things seem to fell apart under the weight of too many useless sub-plots that never go anywhere. We have the secret girlfriend of the actor, who he always hides from the press. Then there's an attempt of blackmail done to him, and then we have the gangster and the usual mafia problems that one has seen in almost every movie of the genre. At the end, i felt all this added little or nothing to the main plot that the movie was suppose to be trying to deal with. We see the characters go through a lot of stuff, but we never really get to know them well, and neither of these events seem to resonate in a logic way. The gangster start to gets soft because....because the script seems to want just that without any further development.

The acting is quite solid, and don't let the pretty boys that they put on the lead roles mislead you to think that this was just a teenage-girl bait. Mind you, i bet they did wanted a bit of that, but they do the best they can with the unfocused script they got. Rough Cut is not a total waste of time, but i just can't help to feel that it was such a wasted opportunity to tell a better story. Kim Ki Duk's involvement with the script might explain the problems, starting with that stupid rape scene. Playing the shock trick once more mr Kim? Grow up already, you look like Korea's Lars Von Trier when you do that.

A movie is a movie...

[loogenhausen · 8/10 · 8 November 2011]

This is a fantastic Korean film that deserves the widest audience possible. Not an action flick, but more a gangster movie crossed with a showbiz black comedy topped off with that special kind of pathos that only Asian films know how to do. I wouldn't be surprised at all to see Hollywood remake this with people like Christian Bale and Mark Wahlberg or something like that. You owe it to yourself to check this out as soon as you have the means to do so. A colossal jerk of a movie star named Soo-ta can't get anyone to act opposite him in his latest movie because he beat the crap out of the last two actors and the media is having a field day with it. Plus, he has a girlfriend who he refuses to take out in public and has sex with her in a van down by the river. His agent is fed up with him and a scandal is bound to rear its ugly head any day now. Enter Kang-pae, a vicious gangster who loves movies. After an awkward run-in at a club with both their entourages in tow, Soo-ta gets the bright idea to cast him as the other actor. He agrees and everyone is so desperate to shoot, they go along with it. The only problem is that Kang-pae fights for real. That means Soo-ta needs to get tough quick if he's to win the final fight hes scripted to win - but now he has to do it for real! There's a lot more to the movie than that and its a joy to go along for the ride. It was refreshing and had me laughing and smiling while caring about the characters all the way through. Highly recommended!

I have to give this a 10/10

[hoang_hai_linh97 · 10/10 · 18 June 2011]

First, I have to admit that the reason I see this movie is my eye candies : Kang Ji-hwan and So Ji-sub. Yes, they are very handsome but that won't prevent me from judging this movie in the most honest way.

This is absolutely a beautiful movie. It has everything: action, romance, and a little bit humour just where needed. "Rough Cut" (or the translated Korean name "Movie is Movie") must be really lucky to have a cast full of famous actors with fabulous acting.

I find a summary of the plot very redundant here so I will go straight into comment about what I like most in this movie. It is full of moral lessons and I keep smiling all the time. At first, I thought this would be some kind of "rivals turning into buddies" movie (which I am really into) but I'm just half correct. The 2 lead characters have a great but confusing relationship. Not friends, not enemies. They talk to each other, they fight, they help each other, they curse each other. Complicated yet entertaining.

Although it's not THAT perfect but I was forced to give this movie a 10 due to the perfect acting of both main actors (and the main actress who plays the role of Mi-na, too) I believe most of you won't find those 113 mins a waste of time.

Rough Cut Review: A cinematic masterpiece!

[Achyut_Prashast_Singh · 9/10 · 26 August 2017]

Movie: Rough Cut (18)

Rating: 4.5/5

After watching So Ji-sub's impressive action thriller A COMPANY MAN, I decided to watch more of his action films, and while browsing I came across this. The synopsis seemed extremely different, and this is what made me watch this film. After watching it, I can say it's a unique masterpiece from South Korea.

ROUGH CUT is a highly entertaining movie, thanks to its highly impressive action sequences, new story and the lead actors: So Ji-sub and Kang Ji-hwan. They hold the film together very well, and deliver enough of entertainment to make you remain hooked to it completely. Even emotionally, the film manages to engage you. There are certain scenes which are highly commendable.

I was seriously impressed with the film's storyline: I have never heard a story or seen a film like this before. Without adding much, I would just say that ROUGH CUT is an effective and highly impressive action film which you'll love for its originality and uniqueness apart from everything else it has.

Bad acting stay bad acting even if you are a gangster

[tombxtra · 5/10 · 24 September 2009]

This movie in the category Asia-mania was a very long sit. Expected was some good action and at least a good story, since this movie was a chosen 'goodie' for the film festival 2009.

However the movie started how it ended, slow and non progressive. In short the story line: Famous actor meet gangster and is captured by the coolness and expected rudeness of the gangster (mafia style??) Actor invites gangster to join his movie and make it a hit.

The result of this was that the movie was about shooting a movie (almost like a documentary); the action scenes did not improve and the movie in my idea did not became better; The social inter-act-meant between the characters also stayed the same. After the in-movie-movie is finished the gangster returns to his line of business and helps another gangster boss carry a purchased art-item. The continuous bashing in this scene raised the vote from a 4 score to a 5 score;

It was a long wait (113 minutes) for just this cool scene