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 okpo Harbor, Gangster's Paradise" is a
Korean Gangster Comedy, so right away there are certain things you can
expect. As with the "My
Wife is a Gangster" films and various others, 90% of the film
will be played for laughs -- that is, until the moment (always toward the
end) when the filmmaker decides it's time to get serious. At this point a
movie that had resembled "Police Academy" will suddenly turn
into "Scarface", with the whole thing drenched in overly
melodramatic moments only possible in Asian films. As with formulaic
Hollywood schlock, the Korean Gangster Comedies have become so generic
that they're now nothing more than connect-the-dots filmmaking.
"Mokpo" stars Jay-hyeon Jo as Soo-cheol, a
bumbling cop who gets beaten up on a regular basis. But because he's a lot
smarter than all the other cops combined (not a hard thing to be,
considering the intelligence of cops in these movies) Soo-cheol's
incompetence is put up with. When prosecutor Im Ja-kyung (Seon-mi Song)
arrives in Seoul with a plan to break up the Mokpo gangs, she somehow ends
up with Soo-cheol as a volunteer for an undercover assignment.
In Mokpo, Soo-cheol encounters obstacles, mostly
because he's an idiot playing a gangster, and this doesn't convince
anyone, namely head hood Baek Sung-ki (In-Pyo Cha). But as dictated by the
script, Soo-cheol eventually manages to worm himself into Sung-ki's
confidence. Soon Soo-cheol is living the high life and risks forgetting
that he's an undercover cop. Meanwhile, cinema aficionado Sung-ki is
thinking of retiring, which doesn't sit well with his underlings.
As a comedy, there are some inspired moments in
"Mokpo", but not nearly enough to sustain an almost 2-hour
movie. Of note is "Mokpo's" salute to American gangster films,
with a picture of Michael Corleone hanging on Sung-ki's wall. Also, when
we first see Soo-cheol in his gangster guise, he's sporting a haircut that
looks suspiciously like the one Tony Montana wore in "Scarface".
Alas, like many Korean comedies in recent years,
"Mokpo" doesn't know when too much is too much. Take an early
scene where Ja-kyung is recruited by Soo-cheol to stand in for a hooker,
where she ends up in the arms of a gangster. Now granted, this is supposed
to be a farcical comedy, but I have problems with the idea of a virginal
woman (she admits to being a virgin) being forced to have sex by a vile
gangster just because it's convenient for our hero. This is supposed to be
funny?
But I have to admit that any movie that puts Leonard
Cohen on its soundtrack can't possibly be all bad. And "Mokpo"
does have moments that make it a worthwhile comedy -- that is, if you can
stand all the 5th grade level jokes it prides itself on. Of
course things get even more predictable when gangster Sung-ki ends up
falling for Ja-kyung, who he meets by accident while she's discussing
Soo-cheol's undercover work. Again, Ja-kyung is forced to play along
because, well, it's in the script.
Obviously Sung-ki's underlings don't take the sudden
change of heart by their boss lying down, which leads to that highly
melodramatic moment where the film decides comedy isn't its thing, and
what it really wants to be is a bloody gangster film. Newcomers to Asian
cinema will be surprised by the sudden shift in tone, but anyone who has
seen the recent spate of Korean comedies will see it coming. Take for
example "Sex
is Zero", where an "American
Pie"-esque sex comedy
suddenly turned melodramatic with the heroine almost bleeding to death in
the bathroom hours after her abortion. Yes, I kid you not, kids. This is
common in Korean comedies.
If you're used to Korean Gangster Comedies,
"Mokpo" is more of the same. The words "formulaic" and
"assembly-line like efficiency" comes to mind. The movie has its
moments, but for the most part its gags were written and executed for the
benefit of audience members who still giggle at the sight of sexually
explicit gags and implied rape. If you've been around Korean cinema for
the last few years, "Mokpo" is more of the same. It's not the
worst of the bunch, but it certainly doesn't stand out from the masses
either.
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