I've more or less had it with this stuff, but the film is distinguished by the grubby velocity of his foot chases, and the effectiveness of its craft (not to mention the unglamorous resolution of at least one character's fate).

| Original Score: 3/4 | Feb 4, 2010

Easily the best cop thriller since The Departed.

| Feb 2, 2010

The Chaser is an expert serial-killer film from South Korea and a poster child for what a well-made thriller looked like in the classic days.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jan 28, 2010

The pessimism of Na's slick debut rings false.

| Dec 30, 2009

Unlike the directors of Infernal Affairs, Hong-Jin refreshingly fuels his philosophical engine with montage.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Dec 30, 2009

South Korean first-timer Na Hong-jin offers nasty thrills, manic foot chases and some genuinely subversive riffs on the police procedural.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 30, 2009

It runs long at over two hours but it is expertly directed, shot, edited, and acted.

| Jun 12, 2009

A grisly serial-killer thriller that develops into a howl of outrage at the ineptitude of the system.

| Oct 18, 2008

But The Chaser delivers as a piece of cinema rather like Seven did - it doesn't let up for a moment.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 19, 2008

It's twisty, provocative and impressively grim, a sort of Asian-extreme Manhunter for the strong of nerve.

| Sep 19, 2008

It's atmospheric but derivative, and I didn't find the denouement's Christian imagery convincing.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Sep 19, 2008

Watching 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.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 19, 2008

This playfulness, however, backfires massively in the second half when coincidence and unforeseen consequence conspire uneasily with bloody, messy results.

| Original Score: 2/6 | Sep 19, 2008

Some of the tension drains from a slow middle act, but it remains a gripping tale of sleuth-work and moral awakening.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 9, 2008