Sun-Woo is the manager of sleek modern restaurant in uptown Seoul called La Dolce Vita, but that's not his only employment. He is also the errand-boy of underworld Kingpin Mr Kang. A job he fulfils ruthlessly and efficiently, until the day Mr Kang takes off for a week, leaving Sun-Woo to mind his much younger girlfriend Hee-Soo to make sure she doesn't sleep around. If she does, he is to execute both of them. Hee-Soo cheats. Sun-Woo almost sentences them to death, but has a sober moment and realises that letting them go is the right thing to do.

In Mr Kang's absence a rival crime syndicate, headed by President Baek and his over-confident son is becoming more and more impatient to force a business merger with Kang. Despite Kang's reluctance to go through with this deal one of his own men, Sun-Woo's cohort, Min-Gi welcomes the business with Baek and his son and complicates matters.

Upon Kang's return he figures out Sun-Woo's failure to carry out his orders and demands he be killed unless he apologises. At this moment, Sun-Woo is about to be tortured to death by Baek Jr. but is returned to Kang on the promise that he will do business.

It's out of the frying pan and into the deepest pits of fiery hell for Sun-Woo. Already bashed and bruised and beaten he is cast down in the mud during a heavy rainstorm and forced to apologise. He resists. His hand is crushed with a massive wrench he is buried alive.

He survives and breaks through the loose soil. Sun-Woo and the audience breathe a sigh of relief. But it's far from over. Min-Ji and a large group of thugs are still waiting by the shallow grave. They drag him into a old building and give him 15 minutes to call Mr. Kang and beg for his life. Still he refuses. And when those 15 minutes are up Sun-Woo unleashes an incredibly lethal and jaw-droppingly furious ass-kicking like you have never seen. He goes through about 20 men like they weren't even there and dishes out agonising, blood-soaked punishment in one of the most nail-biting escapes you'll ever see.

It's now time for Sun-Woo to plan his revenge. And that he does with lovingly violent detail.

A Bittersweet Life comes in 3 large acts that make the 120-minute running time pass in a breeze. The set-up and story are so simple and honest that you can literally start-watching the film at any point and still become immersed in the action. But, I feel that many viewers may be missing the twist at the end.

By 'twist' I mean after Sun-Woo's death the film goes back to the beginning, revealing that he only fantasised the whole thing. He says the cruelty of any sweet dream is waking up to find yourself back in the real world. He is still in his restaurant and when no one is looking, insecurely looking over his shoulder to make sure, Sun-Woo shadow boxes for fun or curiosity. Hardly the kind of behavior you would expect from a man who has just annihilated 50 baddies.

But, regardless of the final outcome, it's the high-octane journey you take to get there that really matters right? And A Bittersweet Life is one movie you'll want to watch over and over again.

After Tale of Two Sisters, Ji-woon Kim's new movie has been eagerly anticipated. In his previous film, the marks of originality, intellectual challenge and superb visual style hailed the possibility of a brave new voice in Korean cinema.

A Bittersweet Life commences with similarly awesome photography and ambiance. The wind in the leaves of a tree - Is it the leaves or the wind that moves? asks the disciple of the master. Neither, he replies, it is your mind and heart that moves. Cut to La Dolce Vita, the swish bar restaurant which we are to discover is also the gangland stronghold of Sun-Woo. A single tree in the centre of the restaurant's sky lounge. The colours red and black, glossy and visually forceful in the lounge - they not only play heavily in the film but make any small deviations stand out. Lushness or delicacy is easily conveyed later in the film by colour, a respite to the bloodshed that will almost swamp us. A tinkling piano (Chopin is used as part of the score) adds a delicate counterpoint to what we know will surely be an overload of violence and mayhem.

Sun-Woo has served his boss, President Kang, faithfully for seven years and is now manager of Dolce Vita as well as Kang's right hand man. Background profits, and gang competition, focuses on innocuous little sidelines like the supply of guns or dancing girls, and which countries these should come from. Kang has a secret lover from the 'normal' world, a cellist who is much younger than he, and whom he suspects of infidelity. Kang entrusts Sun-Woo to sort it out and show no mercy. The warfare that follows goes beyond honour, beyond profit, beyond vengeance, . . . beyond any rational point in fact.

Sun-Woo is the ultimate cool bad guy. Indentured to a world of violence and expert in the use of martial arts, knives and guns, he is almost a humanised Bruce Lee who's woken up on a Tarantino set. It sounds almost too good to be true and it is. The story lines are formulaic and derivative, consisting largely of how to engineer more ingenious punch-ups, torture or revenge posturing. Light humour afforded in the contrast between suave topdogs and bumbling henchmen has been done so many times, and many of the entertaining debacles could have been borrowed from Kill Bill. But entertaining it is, on an undemanding level. Sadly it is not the work of the Master that we might have expected from Two Sisters. "The dream I had can't come true," laments the protagonist, and ironically the dreams Ji-woon Kim's fans may justifiably had don't quite come true in A Bittersweet Life, but this otherwise elegant shoot-em-up is still reasonable 'boys night out' night fare.

Kim Sun-woo works as a hotel manager, he is also a fiercely loyal enforcer for Mr Kang, a powerful crime boss. When Kang goes to Shanghai he tells Sun-woo that he suspects his girlfriend is involved with another man; Sun-woo is to find out if she is and if so 'deal with her'. Sun-woo discovers that she is indeed having an affair but rather than killing her he shows mercy; When Kang finds out he is livid. Sun-woo has also annoyed Baek Dae-sik, another crime boss. The latter's men beat Sun-woo and bundle him into a van; he is surprised when they hand him over to Kang's men. They further torture him with every intention of killing him. He manages to get away though and sets about preparing to hunt down those who want him dead… things are going to get bloody.

If you enjoy revenge thrillers then you should love this; the action is intense and fairly brutal. Don't expect beautifully choreographed martial arts; the fights are intense and look real… even if Sun-woo seems to take unbelievable damage and sill carry on. He is beaten, buried alive, shot and stabbed and still keeps heading towards Kang. Given how brutal it is at times it is a little surprising that there were also a few really funny moments; mostly when he is trying to buy guns off a group of arms dealers. Lee Byung-hun, who plays Sun-woo, is rarely off screen and does a fantastic job making us believe in and sympathise with the character. The rest of the cast are pretty impressive too. Director Kim Jee-woon does a great job creating a brilliant atmosphere and making a very stylish film. Overall I'd definitely recommend this to fans of the genre.

These comments are based on watching the film in Korean with English subtitles.