Stylish but barely mediocre overall

Instant Favorite.

Too much about the plot just didn't add up, the writing was bad, some of the scenes were cringey and awkward,

The movie is made so realistic it has a lot of that WoW feeling at the right moments and never tooo over the top. the suspense is done so well and the emotion is felt. Very well put together with the music and all.

"No Blood No Tears" was a movie that I was really looking forward to watching. Why? Well because it was a Third Windows Film, and they usually have really good (and often quite remarkable) Asian movies out on the market. Plus "No Blood No Tears" also had Do-yeon Jeon on the cast list (and she was amazing in "The Harmonium in my Memory").Now having seen this movie, I must admit that I feel somewhat disillusioned, because this movie was nowhere as interesting or exciting as I had hoped. It was like director, Seung-wan Ryoo, wanted to accomplish a lot of things all at once, but didn't fully manage to juggle all the balls he had put up in the air. The movie was trying to tell too many tales at the same time, and it ended up being a rather confusing, stupid and irritating mess of a story. Sure, "No Blood No Tears" had its moments, but in general there was just not enough of a red thread throughout the story to hang on to.The acting in the movie was actually quite good, and I think that goes for everyone in the movie, because the actors and actresses portrayed their characters quite well and came off as believable characters on the screen.It was a shame that there was too much going on in the movie at the same time and that the movie was jumping back and forth trying to tie together all the various story lines and characters. It just didn't work out as the director had intended. And that is the reason why I give the movie only a mediocre grade. "No Blood No Tears" could have been a much better movie, had the director not trying to throw so many different elements into one project. Would have been better to focus on a couple of the story lines and tie them together in a more constructed way.But still, Do-yeon Jeon (playing Su-ji) and Hye-yeong Lee (playing Kyeong-seon) - the two main characters - actually made the movie worth enough to sit through till the end.

No Blood No Tears, the second feature by Corean action auteur, Ryu Seung Wan, isn't so much an action picture, but more of a pulp noir/caper movie like a number of the films of Guy Ritchie and Quentin Tarantino.The story itself features a rather large cast of characters, but our protagonists are two women, one with an abusive ex-boxer boyfriend turned criminal and the other an ex-con turned taxi-driver who owes some gangsters some money. A somewhat complicated scheme is hatched by multiple parties to steal money from an illegal dog-fighting event and it appears as though multiple gangs are involved, as well as the police, some wannabe criminals. Once the scheme begins, all the parties go for the bag of money and multiple double crosses are revealed, along with fists flying, feet running and a whole lot of people getting beaten up and/or killed. All of which is clear, even if it's a little chaotic at times.Humor is present in the film, more in the form of irony or just people (or the audience) reacting to the madness that's occurring, but it's not a comedy. The action is stylish and some of the choices in direction, including some crazy tracking over surprisingly long choreographed fight sequences, can be surprising both in effectiveness and audacity. The art direction is also notable, the film being drenched in dark tones, perfectly setting the atmosphere.I think all thesps do a good job with the increasingly deranged boyfriend being the most surprising of all as his character changes. It's not an easy film to watch due to the heaping of physical non-glorified violence, so those that can't take such images should generally stay away. Also, if you don't pay attention or try to do something else while watching this film, you might lose track of what's going on due to the expansiveness of the cast. And things do get quite chaotic when multiple groups are encountering each other (and also quite amusing as well, in a maddening "can it really get any crazier?" kind of way).Fans of crime/heist movies with a little grit and humor, like those of the aforementioned directors will find a lot to like here. I personally enjoyed the insanity, the comedy, some kick ass violence, but I did wish it would've relented just a little on some of the pummeling that happened. It sometimes just got brutal to watch such an unfair match-up. But overall, I enjoyed this energized, entertaining, funny sequence of increasingly crazy events. 8/10.

Although at times I found the movie too dark to see what exactly was going on, I thought it was well written and well played.The cast of characters is wide, but like Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels, it all makes sense in the end. And it's funny, too. The action scenes are...quite intense, and not being knowledgeable about martial arts beyond 'that's cool!', I was really impressed.All in all, I recommend it!

Dok-bul is a gangster who runs dog fights. He abuses his girlfriend, Su-ji, and so she decides to steal a bag full of money from him. She gets the help of Kyeong-seon (Hye-yeong Lee), a taxi driver who used to be a safe cracker and has been trying to go straight. The other significant character is Kim Geum-bok, who is generally referred to as "KGB."While the plot has been compared to "Bound," with the two women leads ganging up on the boyfriend, this film is far less coherent than that film. Basically, everyone is after the money, and the film revolves around a number of very well done Hong Kong-style fight scenes, complete with slow motion with water and/or dirt in the air, wire work, and some swirling camera moves. If you can forgive the simplistic story, these scenes plus the performance of Hye-yeong Lee make the film worth seeing.Seen on 11/6/2002 at the 2002 Hawaii International Film Festival.