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I guess many of you have guessed it by looking at the title. Today we are going to talk about the new action movie by "One Punch Man" Ma Dongxi——Crime City 4。

The "Criminal Metropolis" series is not new. The first film was released in 2017 and was a big hit at the box office and word of mouth, becoming the highest-grossing crime film in Korean theaters that year.

Five years later, the second part of "Criminal Metropolis" was released, continuing the success of the first part.

The "monster detective" Ma Xidao portrayed in the film is like "the ancient Greek god in charge of Pitbull", and has since been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.

Last year, the third installment in the series arrived as promised.

Although the reputation of this film has slightly declined due to the same routine, the box office of the film still breaks records, which shows that the audience is still willing to buy it.

By the fourth part, it not only did not become ignored due to aesthetic fatigue, but instead reversed the poor reputation of the previous work. First, it received a wave of media praise when it premiered at the Berlin Film Festival, and after its release, it set the highest opening box office record and the highest single-day box office record in the Korean film market in 2024.

Let’s take a look today to see who will be beaten up by Ma Dong-seok this time.

Like the previous games in the series, "Criminal City 4" is also based on real crime events.

At the beginning of the film, a skinny young man is being chased on the streets of the Philippines.

He went to great lengths to find the police and thought he was finally safe, but he didn't expect the killer to suddenly kill the police without a word and then complete his mission.

This ruthless murderer is the villain of this film, Bai Changji.

On the other hand, Ma Xidao from the Seoul Metropolitan Investigation Team is leading his colleagues to crack down on drug dealers.

They seized a den and discovered that today's drug dealers keep up with the times and have developed a mobile phone software to sell their goods online, creating a lot of difficulties for the police.

After investigation, they learned that the software developer had died abroad and his body had just been shipped back to South Korea - the young man who was brutally murdered in the opening of the film.

The forensic doctor concluded that the man had suffered long-term abuse before his death and this was not a simple murder case.

Ma Xidao and his colleagues followed the clues and soon found the illegal gambling website behind the victims - Emperor Casino.

It turns out that the casino operators have been using fraud, kidnapping and other means to bring large numbers of programmers to the Philippines, and then enslaving them for long-term labor through imprisonment and torture.

The Emperor Casino’s illegal daily earnings amount to 200 million won, but because its servers and operators are located abroad and it implements a membership system, it is extremely secretive and has never been shut down.

There are two people who actually control the website. One is Bai Changji, a mercenary from the special forces. He is ruthless and a bit antisocial. He is responsible for doing all the dirty work and lives in the Philippines.

The other is IT genius Jang Dong-chul, who is involved in politics and business, is responsible for building connections, and lives in South Korea.

Originally, the two of them worked together remotely and only communicated by phone, but the dividends that Dongzhe promised to Changji had not arrived, so Changji had the idea of ​​"rebellion" and decided to return to Korea to get his share of the money.

In short, the police are the ones who benefited from this wave again.

Ma Xidao planned to take this opportunity to catch both of them in one fell swoop, and began to use all kinds of tricks to fight violence with violence...

In my opinion, one of the secrets to the success of the "Criminal Metropolis" series is that each installment continues and strengthens the characteristics of the previous one.

First of all, there is the crisp, uncomplicated rhythm and just the right amount of laughs.

Although based on real events, this series does not take the realistic route. Instead, it uses fast-paced, strong plots and exaggerated expressions to intensify sensory stimulation.

In the first film, gangs fought each other, and the police used violence to fight violence to settle the situation. Zhang Qiandan, a "Harbin gangster", contributed the most memorable moment in the film.

In the second part, the perverted killer who specifically targets tourists, who is ruthless and taciturn, is defeated by Ma Xidao's cold jokes and Dabidou;

The villain in the third film is directly a corrupt cop, but compared to a hidden boss, he is more like a Long Aotian-style clown.

The audience does not need to use their brains to analyze what the conspiracy is or who the bad guy is. They just need to wait for the protagonist to go up and attack with his physical body, and that's it.

The same is true for this film. From the murder of the programmer to the kidnapping case in the Philippines, to the exposure of the Emperor's Casino, the plot twists are all smooth and there are no boring parts.

The villains' scenes of turning against each other are also very clear. If they don't get paid today, they will rush back to Korea tomorrow to fight to the death. It seems that these characters are more concerned about the development of the plot than the audience.

Secondly, the character creation is rough but detailed.

The core character in the film, Ma Xidao, has a cute contrast.

He is a rough-and-ready "monster detective" who will take action instead of talking nonsense when encountering problems. He has a straightforward mind and a pure heart. As long as he can bring criminals to justice, he doesn't care about other details.

Because he likes to use violence to solve problems, he often causes headaches for his superiors. Sometimes, even if he successfully solves a case, he will not receive any rewards, and may even be punished for not complying with procedural justice.

But he was happy to see the bad guys caught.

At the same time, he has a delicate and emotional side.

He felt sad to see young people with no education going astray, and he was afraid to see rookie hooligans brandishing knives and guns.

In this part, when the Emperor Casino is discovered, the case can be transferred to the Cyber ​​Investigation Department.

But at the door of the morgue, he met the mother of the victim and learned that he was just a miserable and unfortunate man.

The other party begged him to catch the real culprit behind the incident, and he agreed.

Unexpectedly, a few days later, the mother committed suicide because she could not bear the death of her son. This incident became a promise that he could not fail to fulfill.

Therefore, even though he was criticized for "stealing the job", he insisted on participating in the case. Knowing that he was not good at dealing with the criminals this time, he actively encouraged his colleagues in the Internet Investigation Department to join the task force... How to say it, he is aggressive but not reckless, simple but not brainless, and his "tough guy with a soft heart" personality is also well grasped.

This kind of contrasting character combined with a sense of humor makes it hard not to attract fans.

The villain corresponding to the protagonist is also quite interesting.

It is worth mentioning that Kim Woo-yeol, who plays Baek Chang-gi, also starred in "The Devil", but in that film he played a policeman and Ma Dong-seok was a gangster boss.

This time the two have swapped identities, and there is evenly matched tension in their personalities and temperaments as well as their fighting styles.

One is vicious and taciturn, the other is vigorous and honest;

One is good with a knife and has many different moves, while the other is bare-handed and just punches hard.

Zhang Yishuai, a supporting character in the previous films, also returns.

In order to send him to do something, Ma Xidao gave him a fake police badge and told him that as long as he got the job done, he would be an undercover agent and no longer a scoundrel.

Zhang Yishuai didn't seem to care about it on the surface, but in fact, thanks to the existence of this fake police badge, he was able to make great achievements at critical moments.

Although the "Criminal City" series has always been labeled as a cool film, there is actually no lack of details in the character creation, and the beginning, development, transition and ending are very neat. This reflects the benchmark lower limit of a mature commercial film assembly line.

It is said that this series is expected to have 8 films, and the fifth film is already on the agenda. Aesthetic fatigue is certain, but if this degree of completion can be guaranteed, as a popcorn film, it will not lack an audience.