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 Deep
Cover, it’s a well-worn device that has thrilled movie audiences for
decades. The story of a good guy officer implanted amongst the vipers
the forces of justice are meant to bring down. The many perils of
someone in that situation are ripe pickings for cinematic thrills; will
that person’s true identity be discovered and what might the payback be?
How will the operative extract themselves from their quarry without
retaliation to friends and family? There’s always the possibility of
the turn; whether due to the relationships forged while undercover -
bonds made while becoming one with the bad guys and isolation from the
good guys - or simple financial gain, that the upstanding lawman may
simply go over to the dark side. All scenarios played in countless cop
films and the question when watching one is, how is this different?
New
World doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel with this premise; in fact it
owes plenty to another Asian film that used the undercover idea so
magnificently it was remade by Martin Scorsese. New World shares a lot
of its mojo with Andrew Lau’s stark, brilliant Infernal Affairs, but
what it does to stand apart is go in even harder and less subtly than
the Hong Kong classic, twisting the relationships of the heroes and
villains into a web where our protagonist cannot see which end is up.
There’s also a healthy helping of Johnnie To’s seminal treatise on
gangster politics, Election, making for a bewitching stew of cinematic
corruption.
As one
sun sets, another rises; so it is with the gangsters of Seoul. The
previous head of the Goldmoon syndicate met an unfortunate end in a
wreck of metal, so now the gathered bosses must meet to mourn and
consider who will take over the family. The titular second-in-command
is seen as more of a straw man or front and isn’t expected to actually
lead. Also in contention is the tough, short-tempered Joong-goo, who
generates more fear than respect from his peers. Lastly, we have Jung
Chung, an oddball of Chinese lineage who has managed to create huge
financial gains for all the families under the Goldmoon umbrella with
his overseas contacts. His tacky, easygoing manner makes him hard to
take seriously, but no one can argue with his achievements. At Jung’s
right hand is his closest friend, Ja-sung: Efficient and unassuming, Ja-sung
serves as Jung’s eyes in Seoul when he is away on his many out of town
jaunts. Their relationship is so tight that there’s no way Jung could
ever suspect that Ja-sung is actually a police officer embedded with his
crew for years. Ja-sung faces the constant risk of being discovered as
a double agent and it’s finally begun to play on him. The question of
whether he or his wife will stay alive long enough to meet their
forthcoming baby is further impetus to get the heck out of Dodge.
Unfortunately, with the upcoming change in Goldmoon’s leadership,
Ja-sung’s real boss, Chief Kang, feels his man on the inside is needed
more than ever to help sway the election in a way he believes will
finally enable the police to break the mob. What Ja-sung doesn’t know
is that Kang is playing both sides up the middle and everyone all
around; not only deploying Ja-sung undercover, but negotiating with the
thugs themselves to cooperate. That mixture of inside and exterior
enmity is sure to cause an explosion between the rival factions and Kang
doesn’t seem to care who gets caught in the blast. Kang has been
chasing these gangs for so long he can’t see the human cost of his
plans, only the result he’s worked so hard for, and as casualties rise
on all sides, Ja-sung knows he must make a decision, which could
endanger him no matter where he turns.
Tense,
dark and violent; as I mentioned, there’s not a ton of subtlety to New
World, which is evident from the first scene where a suspected traitor
is cruelly tortured before sitting in a steel drum for a cement and sea
water facial, but it is intelligent and perfectly acted. Watching as Ja-sung,
played by Lee Jung-jae, must continue his disguise as the cool, ruthless
gangster while his nerves are shattering below the surface is edge of
the seat stuff. He’s written fully enough that we understand his desire
to do the right thing - the whole reason he joined the police force in
the first place – but we can also identify with his alienation and fury
as Kang’s Machiavellian plots render himself and others caught in the
game dispensable. With the coming of his first child, Ja-sung wants to
live more than ever, and he realises in Kang’s grand scheme, his
existence is not a priority. It’s a cold comparison to the family of
murderers he’s been nestled into for nearly a decade, where loyalty is a
given and avenging a fallen comrade is a point of honour. Lee Jung-jae
has the ability to let the viewer know what’s going on behind Ja-sung’s
eyes in his moments of agonising fear and doubt and can just as easily
shut us out as he does when back in undercover mode. The excellent Choi
Min-sik plays Chief Kang, the head of the undercover operation who
really should’ve packed it in before the lines blurred. Choi imbues
Kang with the archness of someone who’s seen way too much damage and has
nothing left to lose, and therefore expects the same lack of self and
soul from his team. He’s tough enough to stand up to the gangsters in a
one-on-one battle of egos, but also recognises how outgunned and
overmatched against the syndicate he is as just another cog in the
police department. In a small but standout role, Song Ji-hyo plays
Ja-sung’s handler/confessor; a tough as nails female officer kept as
much in the dark about all of Kang’s angles. Stone cold and steely, she
is only out of her depth when suddenly having to deal with the emotions
that rage out of Ja-sung as he grows more fearful and frustrated. Hwang
Jung-min plays it goofy as the gaudy gangster, Jung Chung, a man whose
relentless pursuit of women and fake designer goods seems almost as
important to him as his place at the head of the mob family table He’s
a psychopath, no doubt about it; that vulgar, doofus veneer hides a
sadistic shark with a chip on his shoulder. Like many madmen, Jung also
holds his few personal attachments in a viselike grip, which explains a
lot of his brotherly love for Ja-sung, even when the hacking of Seoul PD
servers turns up some potentially troubling information. Jung’s
lightning fast shifts from simple moron to cunning sociopath are
enthralling to watch.
Gripping stuff, all of it. New World retains all the best qualities of
those aforementioned HK movies that surely lent their DNA to this
project, while pushing the envelope toward darker, more brutal edges.
It wasn’t much of a surprise to discover that director, Park Hoon-jung
is also the man who wrote the excellent, epically disturbing thriller,
I Saw
the Devil. If New World is any indication of what’s in store
for the future of the Asian cop drama; harder, sharper, yet finessed and
even elegant, then carry on Korea.
~ The
Lady Miz Diva
March
27th 2013
Click here for our Exclusive Interview with New
World star Choi Min-sik at the 2012 New York Asian Film Festival.
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