Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

A modern Korean take on "The Godfather" and "The Departed", this film beautifully explores the nuances of Korean culture through near flawless character development, script, cinematography, and pulse (the cycling of high and low points throughout the film that keep the audience fully engaged), though is not for the haemophobic (those who fear blood). Lee Jung-jae is absolutely phenomenal in his role; easily one of the best performances I've seen of any actor, ever. I would say the same about the character development in this film as well, which is extremely difficult to pull off in a film with such a heavy flow of "events". The only noticeable flaw is that the elevator scene towards the end is unrealistic (you'll see when you get to it).Easily in the top 3 Korean films of all time.

While I admit the overall idea is great, the execution is not and this is obvious from the very first scenes. The acting is overdone by the main characters, at least for the crime/thriller movie. Maybe it would've been great as a musical :). Anyways, there are serious plot holes: man with a knife kills a person with a gun in a rather naive hand to hand combat although the person with a gun notices the killer slowly approaching from 5+ meters away; ilogical assumptions on the police database, atrocious security setup around the people that are very powerful and have everything to lose, lack of any skills by pretty much anyone (marksmanship and/or combat skills) etc. Fighting scenes are laughably naive, the script feels empty and the timing of events is always too convenient and feels obviously set-up, even for a movie. The final result is that the "New world" is kind of boring.

One of the best "Gangster-Cop" drama ever. Wait, it is a thriller too. Hold on, this defines a new genre on its own. One of the best movie I ever watched. Excellent characterization, casting and rawness in the plot facilitates a riveting watch. Not to forget the scintillating background score. I cannot wait to watch the movie for the second time. Shame that the Hollywood film makers are not producing anything close to this these days. If you are not a great fan of Korean Cinema, watch this and you would be one. If you are already one, then you are bound to become a die hard fan. Very much on par with "The Departed" or might rate it a bit more too. Really wonder why this movie wasn't sent as an official entry to the Oscars from South Korea.

I was initially confused by the relationship between the two principal leads, introduced early in the film. Their personalities were so different as to be conflicting. Then with the introduction of a third male lead, one considerably older, just as abrasive but considerably less well groomed things started to fall into place. The two young men- JANG, stiff and seemingly humourless - appears pitted against JEONG -loud, obnoxious and yet with some charm. They are both members of Korean crime syndicate, that has managed to go legitimate. The third man - Section Chief KANG - is pulling any number of strings to bring down the syndicate before it becomes too powerful to stop. As such fans and devotees of both INFERNAL AFFAIRS and Martin SCORCESE's remake THE DEPARTED may find parallels in the actors TONY LEUNG; ANDY LAU, and ANTHONY WONG. I don't think the comparison between NEW WORLD; INTERNAL AFFAIRS, and THE DEPARTED far fetched - there is even a young woman comparable to the psychiatrist in INFERNAL AFFAIRS. This woman plays chess with JANG, though their meetings serve another purpose. NEW WORLD is a reminder of how we were introduced to contemporary Korean cinema. Heroes and villains separated by the finest of lines; violence ever present and visceral, with hands, knives and assorted other weapons other than guns meting out terrible damage (it's stunning how much one key player survives). I am giving the film only 7/10 because once I reflected on the key characters and their possible relationships, the story held few surprises for me. Furthermore the length of the film -135 minutes - works against its overall momentum. That said, NEW WORLD is professionally executed and a nice addition to Korean filmmaking. PS: I was taken aback at how much swearing and coarse language the film contains. Is this a sign of the times in Korean film, or a concession to international markets?