Cruel City is a masterpiece of a drama. It is a moody, dark and oh so sexy drama the plunges its viewers into the world of crime. From the very first episode the shock value will pull you in and keep you reeling until the very end. While the beautifully choreographed action scenes initially caught my attention, the complex story the drama weaves kept me watching. Jung Kyung Ho's performance as the dangerous and suave Doctor's Son is mesmerizing. This is by far Jung's best performance. His character is enigmatic, intense and at times ruthless. The drama follows Doctor's Son as he navigates his relationships in a city where you can trust no one. While the drama focuses mostly on the crime world, this drama delves into aspects of friendship, trust, loyalty and love. The love story is understated and restrained which suites the tone of the drama quite nicely.
The cast of characters is vast where it is sometimes difficult to keep track of all of them and their ever changing allegiances. This can sometimes make things confusing. I'm curious to how much is remedied by a second run though.
The music and score for Cruel City are remarkable and poignant. The ten track OST is phenomenal. This album flows amazingly well from one track to the next. While Wound, Butterfly and Everyday stand out as beautiful lyrical tracks, the instrumental pieces are surprisingly evocative and striking as individual tracks. My favorites are Memories of the Past, The Man, Undercover and The Night. Undercover reminds me so much of Time from Hans Zimmer's Inception.
Cruel City is an amazing creation where everything: the setting, the cinematography, the vibe, the tone and the score feed into the dark and surprisingly beautiful kill or be killed world. The characters are complex and have truly dynamic story arcs. The story telling is tight and well woven. Though the drama is dark and sometimes jarring, I think the story and cast of characters set it well above the rest. I can certainly understand why it is so highly revered as a beautiful, poetic and tragic story.
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