the director also did The Yellow Sea & The Wailing that are also must see films.

The Yellow Sea was okay. Not my cup of tea because I don't like action movies. It's still good by action movie standards. The character motivations are complex and interesting unlike most action movies where you just have to kill the generic bad guy.

The Wailing was an excellent film. I've written a long analysis of it in that film's discussion section. A very complex and layered movie. It's the most deceptive movie I've ever seen, and the only movie that successfully deceived a large majority of it's audience into the wrong conclusion just as all of the villagers in the movie were deceived.

Unsettling film indeed. There were many things which annoyed me about it though, like the huge series of coincidences and mishaps that either played against the chaser or in his favour. Individually they'd be forgivable, but compounded, they're just irritatingly absurd. For example, the initial accident that connects the chaser and the killer, her timely escape that coincides with his return, his finishing his cigarettes at that moment and deciding on that shop to enter, the woman literally handing him a hammer and telling him all about the girl out back, the sleeping police (and I get that a big part of the film is about police incompetence, but even so, the only time we see police sleeping on the job is the one time there's literally an emergency being phoned in), the chaser ignoring his phone at the critical time when we've never seen him miss a call before... I could go on. As I viewer I did my best to suspend disbelief for many of these, or dismiss them as unlikely but plausible, but the sheer volume makes it impossible! Overall I thought it was well done. So ghastly it's hard to recommend though.

It was good, but doesn't justify it's rating. I gave it a 6. As the above poster says, there's way too many timely coincidences to keep the plot moving forward and a lot of suspension of disbelief is required. If this was a Hollywood movie, people would be pointing out every single flaw and ripping it to shreds. And then at the end of the movie, they blame Christianity. That was such a cliche eye-rolling moment.

@silverhawkins said:

Unsettling film indeed. There were many things which annoyed me about it though, like the huge series of coincidences and mishaps that either played against the chaser or in his favour. Individually they'd be forgivable, but compounded, they're just irritatingly absurd. For example, the initial accident that connects the chaser and the killer, her timely escape that coincides with his return, his finishing his cigarettes at that moment and deciding on that shop to enter, the woman literally handing him a hammer and telling him all about the girl out back, the sleeping police (and I get that a big part of the film is about police incompetence, but even so, the only time we see police sleeping on the job is the one time there's literally an emergency being phoned in), the chaser ignoring his phone at the critical time when we've never seen him miss a call before... I could go on. As I viewer I did my best to suspend disbelief for many of these, or dismiss them as unlikely but plausible, but the sheer volume makes it impossible! Overall I thought it was well done. So ghastly it's hard to recommend though.

I cannot possibly agree more except I cannot say it was in anyway a good movie. The movie strings along on a set of annoying plot contrivances that are just beyond absurd. I appreciate the movie is about police incompetence but you can highlight police incompetence without reducing their action to downright idiotic lunacy. Every character in this movie behaves in an appallingly absurd way that begs for some semblance of logic.

1) A girl goes missing and the police knows where her car is. So they decide that the most appropriate area for search is in the mountains and anywhere else outside the immediate vicinity of where her car is. And their reason for this is that there are too many houses to be searching one by one. How on earth is this a reason to search the mountains instead? 2) You catch a suspect covered in blood close to the scene of where a girl's gone missing, who then admits to two separate police stations that he had killed her and you decide you have to let him go because you don't have enough evidence? just because you haven't found a body? you know a girl has gone missing, he said he killed her, he is found where she went missing and he is covered in blood. How is this not enough evidence? are the writers aware that people have been convicted of murder even though a body was never found? 3) the main character spends the entire movie running around doing everything except the most logical thing: SEARCH THE AREA WHERE SHE DISAPPEARED! 4) You're following a suspect who goes into a convenience store. He hangs in the tiny convenience store for a long time and you don't think this is suspicious? you'e just going to keep standing outside without even trying to go closer to see what's happening?

there are so many other issues with this movie that I can't remember because I haven't seen it in a while. Again, I understand the movie wants to highlight police incompetence, but you can do this without writing a plot so implausible that even an honest attempt at suspending disbelief would be fruitless.

I agree with you: too many coincidences make the plot absurd. Ok to criticize the police but in some moments it seems to see the comedians. Too absurd. I also really don't like the exaggerated gesturing in Asian films...