This is expert filmmaking at every level, continually adding engaging subtext that touches on family pressures, blind self-interest and warped justice.
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09/19/08
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The Chaser (2009)
83
%
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Reviews Counted:18
Fresh:15
Rotten:3
Average Rating:6.6/10
Consensus: A frantic and taut Korean serial killer thriller. One classy, if bloody and messy, gut wrencher of a movie.
Theatrical Release:19-09-2008
Starring: Ha Jung-Woo
Reviews for The Chaser
1 - 19 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
But The Chaser delivers as a piece of cinema rather like Seven did — it doesn’t let up for a moment.
09/19/08
In between moments of chisel-hacking horror there is some impressively dark humour and top-notch acting. But be warned – emotionally this movie will reach deep into the pit of your stomach and wriggle your guts about before wrenching them out.
09/19/08
A good example of a film grabbing the audience by the collar, only for the audience to shake themselves free, The Chaser is a promising fusion of detective thrills, sweaty-palmed horror, and black comedy that ultimately does not hang together.
09/19/08
It's twisty, provocative and impressively grim, a sort of Asian-extreme Manhunter for the strong of nerve.
09/19/08
Top CriticIt's atmospheric but derivative, and I didn't find the denouement's Christian imagery convincing.
09/19/08
Top CriticWatching the Korean film The Chaser is like chewing diamonds – you know there’s something of value in there but mostly it’s just a mess of pain and blood.
09/19/08
Top CriticThis playfulness, however, backfires massively in the second half when coincidence and unforeseen consequence conspire uneasily with bloody, messy results.
09/19/08
Top CriticNa Hong-Jin's feature debut is a bleakly frantic psycho-noir, furiously edited, ferociously performed - and despite allying itself to the serial killer genre so beloved in the west, it is distinctly Korean in its settings and references.
09/11/08
Top CriticSome of the tension drains from a slow middle act, but it remains a gripping tale of sleuth-work and moral awakening.
09/09/08
Top CriticIt runs so fast and twisted a course through a range of tones and genres that just trying to keep up will leave the viewer as breathless as the monstrous protagonist - and it has a real social conscience to boot.
08/28/08
Top CriticUma obra madura e complexa que insiste em desafiar as idéias pré-concebidas do espectador do início ao fim.
10/15/09
It's hard out here for a detective turned pimp in the thrilling import The Chaser
06/15/09
It runs long at over two hours but it is expertly directed, shot, edited, and acted.
06/12/09
shifts its tone effortlessly between white-knuckle suspense and investigatory drama
05/29/09
The Chaser is one of the better Korean films to emerge since Park Chan Wook's Oldboy.
05/03/09
An impotent thriller about an insane serial killer, incompetent cops and an irritating overweight sweaty pimp.
05/02/09
Click to read the article
10/18/08
Top CriticIt announces Na Hong-jin as a filmmaker willing to go to places that even most so-called horror movies would shy away from.
07/28/08
1 - 19 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Latest News for The Chaser
April 19, 2009:
Trailer & Poster review 
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