Scenes of grotesque violence are handled oddly lackadaisically, with the occasional low-ranking character meekly suggesting that maybe this isn't such a good idea before reluctantly agreeing to follow orders anyway.

| Jul 10, 2020

It's a daring glance into the past... Uniquely cherish-able.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 26, 2019

The film certainly doesn't spend too much superfluous time introducing the players, so it's at times confusing keeping track of just who is doing what to whom. Nonetheless, I found that it unfolded with enough style and humour to keep it interesting.

| Original Score: B | Jun 21, 2007

I found it muddled and un-engaging.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Apr 14, 2006

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Mar 4, 2006

what the film lacks in depth it makes up for in Hong Kong-style punch, with vivid cinematography and powerfully choreographed action.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Mar 3, 2006

In the end it's probably best to say, glad I saw it, but not sure I got the most out of the experience. My advice: Do a little history homework first.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jan 19, 2006

The President's Last Bang has been extremely well made, and its cast deftly walks the thin line between reality and parody. Perhaps the players do it a bit too well.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Dec 20, 2005

... the way it brazenly mixes matter-of-fact brutality with the deadpan comedy of the fumbling execution and slapdash cover-up is inspired...

| Original Score: B+ | Dec 12, 2005

The off-kilter humor is a welcome contrast, and the performances are strong, particularly by Baek as the increasingly unhinged patsy.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Dec 10, 2005

The President's Last Bang comes off as all too ridiculously believable.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Dec 9, 2005

The gallery of Park's cronies and sycophants are presented as buffoons, but as the violence starts, the narrative thread gets hopelessly tangled.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Dec 9, 2005

| Original Score: B | Dec 6, 2005

It's riveting and unsettling, but, as powerful as it is to watch, because of its basic, panoramically broad conception, it may not really stay fixed in the memory.

| Dec 6, 2005

Although a tad long-winded and plodding, it's vigorously acted and persuasive, leaving the viewer to suspect that Im's account, drawn from historical records, could be pretty close to the truth.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 30, 2005

In the end, the film develops an amusing entertainment out of dire circumstances.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 27, 2005

This meticulously well-made picture is disarmingly funny at times ... but also subdued and straight-faced, with one eye planted on 1979 and the other on the violent student demonstrations looming in the distance.

| Nov 23, 2005

A few elements of the film are lost in the translation...[but] for all that, The President's Last Bang is entertaining and swift-moving.

Full Review | Nov 23, 2005

An alchemical brew of balls and technical brilliance.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Nov 19, 2005

Im Sang Soo is, film by film, challenging the way modern South Koreans think and behave.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Nov 18, 2005