NOTE: Please be aware that this DVD is a Korean import and is coded for Region 3 DVD players. In order to view this DVD, you'll have to have either a Region 3 coded or Region Free DVD player. [Recommended Region Free Players] It will not play in standard Region 1 North American DVD players.

Ryoo Seung-wan, the man behind Crying Fist, returns to the action genre he's so well known for in his native South Korea with The City Of Violence, a fun and entertaining fight film that succeeds more on style than on substance but which entertains from start to finish.

The film begins when a detective named Jeong Tae-su (Jeong Du-hong) heads back to the small town where he grew up to attend the funeral of a man who he was close friends with during his years in high school. While roaming around his old stomping grounds he meets up with two other old friends, Ryoo Seok-hwan (played by director Ryoo Seung-wan) and Jang Pil-ho (Lee), both of who were in the same street gang as Jeong years ago. While some things have changed (Jeong is now a cop and Jang has grown from the goofy kid they made fun of to an angry bruiser) others have not (Ryoo still likes to get into fights) and the three do some catching up. While talking, the subject of the death of their mutual friend inevitably comes up and soon they're trying to figure out whether his involvement in a real estate deal got him murdered or not. The catch? Jang was the guy on the other side of the deal, and Ryoo and Jeong figure he might have had a hand in the killing.

Jeong and Ryoo soon find themselves having to try to prove that Jang is indeed the culprit, but unfortunately for them he's got a small army of thugs at his disposal, any of whom would be happy to stand up against the pair to defend their leader. It all builds up to the inevitable showdown that we all knew was coming from about the fifteen minute mark, but what a showdown it is.

While the beginning of the movie might make things seem a little more complicated than it really needs to by introducing a few too many characters too quickly and throwing in a flashback to the three main characters' high school days, the story here is actually very simple even if it asks the viewer to throw logic out the window (there are moments in here that are completely ridiculous and some of the main plot line is a little blurry at times). The fact that we figure out that Jang is involved very early on doesn't help things, in fact it takes a lot of the suspense out of the script, and how exactly the two protagonists finger his involvement in their mutual friend's death is never really made all that clear. These are some fairly obvious weaknesses in what is otherwise a fairly well constructed film and had they been corrected and had there been a little more detail put into the script (parts of it feel rushed) The City Of Violence could have been a great, serious action movie – instead it works better as a popcorn film, a movie you watch simply because you want to see some fight scenes.

So if the fight scenes are the real reason to watch the film, do they deliver? In spades! Though it takes a little while to get to the really meaty brawls and while realism doesn't seem to play much of a part in the way things turn out, if you want to see some ass kicking then this movie won't let you down. The fight choreography, handled by Jeong Du-hong himself, is quite good and the stunts are exciting and unique. At times the camera feels too involved in the action and pulling back from the scraps a bit would have given us a better look at things, the action set pieces here are really well done. Also worth noting is that there is a refreshing lack of computer enhancement used here (or if it is here it isn't as obvious as it is in a lot of action movies) – the fights have a human side to them that reminds one of action films from the seventies. This was likely on purpose as the film pays tribute to films like The Warriors, as well as to Italian Spaghetti Westerns (the music was definitely influenced by Morricone's work) which the film is almost structured like.

So while The City Of Violence is far from perfect, it does entertain and the last twenty-minutes or so when the finale starts bubbling are quite impressive. See this one for the action scenes and a few nice moments of humor and check your brain at the door. It could have been a classic but the scripting is just too weak for that to be the case, and instead it's style over substance.