Dirty Money

Story: Detective Kim Myeong-deuk (Jung Woo) and his partner Lee Dong-hyeok (Kim Dae-myung) are corrupt and keep ripping off petty criminals in order to line their own pockets. While Dong-hyeok indulges in gambling and therefore has a lot of debt he needs to pay off, Myeong-deuk has a young daughter whose hospital bills need paying. One day, the two detectives are called to a supposed suicide, but it quickly turns out that it was murder and that the perpetrators were looking for something. The serious crime squad takes the case away from the detectives, but not before Myeong-deuk finds an SD card on the dead man. Later it turns out that the dead man was an informant and that he possessed information about a big deal. The two corrupt detectives take a look at the data on the SD card, and an enormous amount of money is indeed about to be smuggled into the country by Chinese gangsters. Since the detectives also have the exact location, they only need the point of time now. Dong-hyeok has a contact who can provide him with that information too. In the end, the two detectives decide to steal the money. They bring in a third policeman who provides them with weapons. However, not everything goes according to plan during the robbery. And so it happens that Myeong-deuk and Dong-hyeok have to investigate their own crime, while their colleagues are slowly starting to see through their game. And then there are the Chinese who want their money back too...

Review: Plot-wise "Dirty Money" is undoubtedly one of the most interesting thrillers of the year. On top of that, the story doesn't take the easy road to win over the audience, because, at best, there are evil characters who aren't quite as evil as the rest, meaning that their motive is quite understandable, for example, money for the little daughter's surgery. Sure, this may be a good prerequisite for you to be ready to dive into a world where lines are getting blurred, but it's thanks to the gripping screenplay and the performances that this actually works out in the end. It is particularly noteworthy that things always keep moving and everything escalates in a way that ultimately keeps you glued to the screen. The gloomy world actually keeps you in suspense as to how the whole thing might turn out for our two "heroes". Last but not least, you also feel reminded of old HK thrillers, when Chinese censorship didn't yet manage to make the end of those movies completely predictable. In "Dirty Money" it is truly difficult to find someone who does not walk a fine line when it comes to moral decisions.

As expected, this means that betrayal lurks around every corner. Betrayal that may sometimes even happen for laudable reasons, but it still puts the corrupt heroes of the story in quite a bit of trouble. Of course, there is never any doubt that something must go wrong during the robbery, but the way everything falls apart and the two policemen are dragged down into a real vortex of despair is still quite surprising. Whenever you think it couldn't get any worse, another party emerges that makes life difficult for the detectives. Some people or facts that were presented to us at the beginning eventually become important again and everything seems to be connected. This can usually create the impression of an overly artificial construct, but director and screenwriter Kim Min-soo, who has already worked on the story for "Kingmaker", manages to make everything seem completely rounded in his debut work. Unfortunately, the movie doesn't shine in terms of directing. Many suspense-packed scenes are realized quite unspectacularly.

Overall, the final product lacks some finishing touches. Nowadays, we know all too well about the problem of most Korean thrillers that look extremely polished but do not have anything to offer at their core. With "Dirty Money", however, it is exactly the opposite. Even the introduction seems like a TV movie, and it also takes a while until we can warm up to the characters. The locations are somehow captured carelessly and for a long time you also feel emotionally distant to the two detectives. Maybe the movie could benefit from a remake because the script is well written and doesn't waste the viewer's time. With just under 100 minutes, everything is constructed tightly, and even though the ending may put off some viewers, you still have to respect it. You also have to be grateful for the fact that no unnecessary action was forced into the movie as it wouldn't have fit at all. There are a few shootouts in "Dirty Money", but they only serve their purpose without being stylistically puffed up. This is quite refreshing, and the movie never feels long-winded because of it either.

The extent of the violence portrayed also shows the director's sense of what is necessary. There are a few pretty violent scenes, but Kim Min-soo leaves the most important things to the viewer's imagination. Another praiseworthy thing is that even though there is a bit of drama with the daughter in the hospital, it doesn't get exploited. On the negative side, though, it is noticeable that the actors somehow lack star power. Jung Woo ("New Trial") undoubtedly does a decent job - which is immensely important as we need to warm up to his moral compass if we want to root for him -, but there is also something to his outward appearance that keeps us from seeing him as the hero. Same goes for Kim Dae-myung ("The Golden Holiday"), who sometimes even delivers a somewhat more differentiated performance, but still has the aura of a supporting actor stuck to him until the end. Apart from that, the chemistry between the two policemen works quite well, and they are also repeatedly confronted with morally difficult questions, which lets us get to know them better.

The difficult decisions that have to be made lead deeper and deeper into the personal hell of the detectives. We only learn in passing that Myeong-deuk has had to live through hard times, and then there is his little sick daughter. Dong-hyeok, on the other hand, only has some self-inflicted gambling debts, which made him corrupt. Nevertheless, we can still root for him, because the alternatives in this nihilistic world are not really any better. As "Dirty Money" is gripping right until the end, the movie can only be criticized for lacking memorable locations/sets, which is why the movie sometimes seems unnecessarily cheap. Otherwise, the captivating story, which is peppered with twists and turns, knows how to convince the viewer. If you are interested in dark thrillers addressing the question of morality and how far the law can be bent until you turn into a villain, you will get your money's worth here. It would also be a shame if "Dirty Money" were to get completely lost in the rest of all the genre output just because of its visual weaknesses.

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