The police are hunting a serial killer, and two cops who are competing for the same job must cooperate. But one of them gets into trouble when a woman who has served a prison sentence visits him.
The Beast is a South Korean remake of a 2004 French film called 36th Precinct. I have seen the original movie, but it’s not a movie I remember so much from. So I can’t compare them.
I see that The Beast hasn’t received so many positive reviews, which I don’t quite understand. The movie is a bit long with a runtime of about 131 minutes. They should have trimmed it down by about 20 minutes.
But apart from the long runtime, I can’t say that The Beast was boring. Something happens all the time, and it’s very interesting to follow the two policemen and their fight against each other. They used to be partners, but now they hate each other, and both are competing for the same job. How far are they willing to go to get the job?
The best thing about the whole movie is Lee Sung-min, who plays the cop who gets in big trouble when an old acquaintance reappears in his life and creates trouble. He’s good. You can see and feel that he’s losing control. He can no longer trust anyone, but this is also the character I felt sympathy for. His former partner is a nauseating character that I hoped would die!
The Beast has many balls in the air, which is why many people don’t like the movie. The movie goes from a serial killer to revenge, to gangsters and a fight for a job between two cops. I am critical when a movie has too many balls in the air, but I liked it in The Beast. I felt sorry for the cop who I didn’t feel deserved all the shit he’s experiencing. It becomes an interesting character study of a man who’s trapped in a corner, and the misery never ends for this unfortunate man.