| Who’s cooler, cops or gangsters? That’s the question that “Public Enemy Returns” plays around with; and one that Seol Kyeong-gu’s character answers right away in front of his embarrassed daughter’s classmates on parent’s day with his brutish and authoritarian behavior. If he’s a cop, then cops are not cool! His wrinkled, badly fitting clothes, his scraggly moustache, and his need of a haircut don’t help matters either. The fact that he’s broke and about to be unemployed – no thanks. And as for his getting refused a loan at his bank, going wild, and having to be dragged out by the police – not cool.
This third “Public Enemy” is funnier, more energetic, and more violent than the first two. Seol has returned to the sloppy loser look that he had in the first one and dropped in the second. He’s ready to rumble rough again. And rumble rough he does, against the always-fantastic Jeong Jae-young’s (Has that guy ever been in a bad movie?) playing a character who’s proud to say that he was born a gangster and remains a gangster, no matter how expensive he looks. He makes a great self-assured complex-character opponent for Seol’s rough-and-tumble, scraggly, determined cop. The fabulous Yoo Hae-jin is back as the stabbing expert (now a butcher), and his performance is beautiful. Lee Moon-sik is in there as an ex-con turned successful honest businessman; and, as usual, he does it up right. The young actress who plays Seol’s smart strong-willed daughter is great, and so is the actress who plays his no-nonsense mother.
The dialogue is lively; with nice tough talk from both from the gangsters (“I’m a thug to the bone!”) and the cops (“Tell me the truth; or don’t bother talking!” or “I don’t need any evidence. Never have.”)
And as for being cool? What does the movie have to say? It says this: Cool is superficial. When push comes to shove, and it usually does, what counts is something much deeper than cool. Having a bad temper also helps.
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