Beautifully shot and superbly acted by a committed cast, 'The President’s Last Bang' is ultimately an underwhelming affair. The laid back approach to proceedings will certainly be enjoyed by some but the film seems to take too long to get going anywhere, the suspense often diluted by a meandering pace. Things certainly pick up with the bloody attack on the President, startling in its violence after such a slow first start. But after this outburst the flick once again falls back into that meandering, never stirring up enough emotion or pace. As mentioned some will find this approach rewarding while others may be frustrated as nothing ever really happens outside of the assassination and Kim Jae Kyu’s somewhat humorous mental fallout.

That said the film is still an occasionally interesting slice of Korean cinema, thanks in part to Baek Yun-shik’s excellent portrayal of Kim. A man, who seems to have everything together, soon unravels as it becomes increasingly questionable about why he in fact decided to assassinate the President. The fine photography is also a delight to watch (including an impressive overhead tracking shot ala Brian De Palma) but ultimately Sang-soo’s film fails to find the right balance between black comedy, suspense and true life drama. Certainly recommended for those looking for something a little different but not quite the film it could have been.

There were a few different sections to this movie. The first was the lead up to the assassination, the second was the event being carried out, and the last was the attempted cover-up by the conspirators. The story really focuses on Han Suk-kyu's character of a KCIA chief and his boss, director of the KCIA (played by Baek Yoon-shik), who is the lead conspirator and triggerman. There is screen time given to many other minor characters, as we follow everyone's different responses to the mayhem involved in an organized plot to kill the most powerful man in South Korea.

There was some controversy over the release of TPLB, because even though the story is based on actual events, it's still a film that takes some creative liberties. The opening of the film, during the credits, was supposed to include real documentary footage about the president and his reign; however this was censored by the Korean Film board because they were afraid that people would confuse reality with the movie, and believe that the movie is all true. So, instead of cutting this out and simply moving onto the movie, the director chose instead to leave the screen black during the credits. When I'd first read about this censorship, I was angry and thought it would be distracting to have a black screen for 4 minutes of the film. However, I didn't even notice it, and honestly didn't even realize that this was the part that was censored until I'd read about it later. It's not as striking as I've heard it described in the past.

Though it was interesting enough, I kept hoping to see more amusing yet darkly twisted bits of humor in The President's Last Bang. I wasn't really sure what to make of the film, because of the way I'd heard it described. It's not a bad movie, but I was expecting more comedy from what has been widely tagged as a black comedy.