Underworld enforcer Sun-woo's (Lee) unquestionable loyalty is rewarded by his mob boss when he's asked to keep an eye on his girlfriend Hee-soo (Shin) - whom the boss suspects of playing around. Sun-woo follows Hee-soo all over town and subsequently falls in love with her, but when she is caught in the act of cheating on the boss, Sun-woo does the unthinkable and grants her an act of mercy. The boss, who expects his word to be carried out to the letter, sends some hoods around to Sun-woo to extract an apology through torture. Sun-woo escapes and begins the long road to revenge, taking out everyone as he goes.
Written and directed by Kim Ji-Woon, A Bittersweet Life takes the slickness of Michael Mann's Heat, the violence of Tarantino's Kill Bill and the tar-black humour of the Coen Brothers - not to mention a kitchen sink or two - and mixes them all up into one enjoyable experience. A smart, violent and sickly funny film, Kim smacks the audience with OTT shoot-outs and torture scenes but, before anyone gets upset, he switches to comedy (the Mexican stand-off between Sun-woo and the gun dealer being the standout) and back again. Lee, as Sun-woo, does a great job in a role that screams to be hammed up, but Lee downplays his character in a cool, consistent suavity. Halfway through the film, Kim asks the audience, are you with this film or not? Go with it; it'll be all the more enjoyable if you do.