Hot Blooded: Once Upon a Time in Korea

Released Oct 28, 2022

1h 59m

Crime

Drama

Action

TRAILER

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4 Reviews

Popcornmeter

Fewer than 50 Ratings

A veteran gangster, Hee-su, is looking to retire from his crime family in the violent port town of Kuam, Korea. But an unexpected betrayal leads him down a bloody path where he gets caught in the middle of a mob war with deadly consequences.

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William Schwartz

HanCinema

The main problem "Hot Blooded" has going for it is just...not really very much of interest aside from being a typical gangster story.

May 4, 2024

Full Review

Anton Bitel

Projected Figures

Writer Cheon Myeong-kwan’s directorial debut shows small-town powerplay among gangsters as a melancholic chess game

Nov 10, 2022

Full Review

Richard Schertzer

Film Threat

The film often becomes something of a parody of its genre. There’s too much talking and shooting and not enough emoting to make its characters seem human.

Rated: 4/10

Nov 7, 2022

Full Review

Kate Sánchez

But Why Tho? A Geek Community

Overall, Hot Blooded's tempered pace draws in the audience and its moments of surprise and double cross keep you there paired with great performances keep them there.

Nov 2, 2022

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Marc Z

South Korea is probably the leader in the world over the last ten (10) years in gritty crime and action dramas. This film fits that bill. It is a compelling and violent story of a gangster losing to get out of the mob at a critical time. The joy of these movies, and this one, is that the characters are complex. They are not founded on good guys wear white hats.... Many of the characters have a great and interesting duplicity. This film is as good as it gets in the genre. Great Direction. Great cinematography. Great acting. Best if watched in Korean with English subtitles.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

07/04/23

Full Review

JJJJJJ J

This film was no means terrible but falls very much flat in comparison to its contemporaries. First off the plot was hard to following going from one place to the next with many characters being only introduced by name so it was a bit hard to follow what each persons role was in the larger narrative. SO much of the motive behind what was going on was also just... not there. I constantly kept asking myself why the protagonist was making the choices he was making. Only one strong family relationship that pushed a motive was created and everything else just seemed random. Another flaw was that the main character at one point would be driven by one motive and then just drop in a moment and would just be forgotten about. This film was a mess. It still had some good character creation, and the slow moving feel of the film was very well done. i think if you were to take the directing and style of this film and just give it a better plot you would have a good movie.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

04/15/23

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Cheon Myeong-gwan

Director

Woo Jung

Hee-soo

Kim Kap-soo

Old Man Son

Choi Moo-sung

Yong-gang

Ji Seung-hyun

Chul-jin

Lee Hong-nae

Ah-mi

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Hot Blooded: Once Upon a Time in Korea: Trailer 1

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Synopsis

Director: Cheon Myeong-gwan
Producer: Kim Ju-kyung, Jeon Woo-hyung
Screenwriter: Cheon Myeong-gwan
Distributor: Epic Pictures
Production Co: Whale Pictures
Genre: Crime, Drama, Action
Original Language: Korean
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 28, 2022, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 1, 2022
Runtime: 1h 59m
Sound Mix: Dolby Digital
Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)

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Hot Blooded: Once Upon a Time in Korea

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