This is a very ordinary film and too shallow for my taste of the gangster's life. I'm a fan of HK gangster movies with the familiar themes of honour, loyalty, chauvinism, perseverance and betrayal.

While Kang-ho Song (In-goo) does a pretty job in portraying the troubled gangster with family struggles, he didn't pull me in enough to the conflict between his job, morality and family obligations. I mean, when his character was introduced on the screen, he was on the tail end of a gangster career. How interesting can a movie be if the protagonist is retiring? I couldn't help comparing him to Tony Soprano. While Tony's and In-goo both have troubles in the domestic life, In-goo's working life pails in comparison to Tony's work. Overall, the acting is fine and the ending is somewhat OK. In comparison to other Korean gangster films this one lacks the dynamic conflict, brutality and pain seen in better gangster movies such as "A Bittersweet Life" and "A Dirty Carnival". This film is rather ordinary and ordinary does not make for a memorable film.

"Uahan segye" (Korea, 2007) tells the story of Kang In-Gu (award-winning Korean actor Kang-ho Song, who also played the lazy dad turned monster-fighter in "The Host"), a senior member of a gang called "Dogs". He is already planning to retire from his violent profession to lead a peaceful life with his family, mainly because his daughter (So-eun Kim, popular as Ga-Eul in "Boys Over Flowers) is already growing apart from him. In-Gu's success in his last "job" draws him closer to the boss. This in turn makes the boss' brother very jealous. This jealousy causes a series of professional double-cross and personal misfortune for In-Gu which derails all his noble retirement plans.

This is a different kind of gangster movie in that it packs a smorgasbord of varying movie genres within its 109 minute running time. It is basically a black comedy. The action starts off light and downright funny, but later it becomes seriously bloody and violent. There are also some scenes which were tear-jerkingly dramatic about a father's plight about losing the family he loves.

Direction-wise, it felt as if the reins could have been tightened a bit as some scenes felt repetitious, prolonged and confusing. A more rapid pace would have improved overall appreciation of this film. But overall, it was still a good and worthwhile movie to spend time on.