I'm not even sure what the title of this film even is. The film itself says YEOUIDO ISLAND, but I couldn't find that anywhere online. I did find listings and a trailer for this film under the title A FRIEND IN NEED, so I'm going to go with that instead since it makes more sense. Either way, it wasn't a good film.
A loser dude is deep in debt to a loan shark. He's looked down upon at work by his co-workers and even his wife has lost all respect for him. Things are looking pretty grim for this sad sack loser. But then things suddenly turn around when his childhood friend shows up and after a long night of drinking he goes to work the next day to find out that his main competition at work was found dead. Murdered! Things take an even bigger turn when the guy he owes money to (and is pimping out his wife to pay off the interest!!!) turns up murdered and in the trash. Strange huh?
Not as strange as how a story with such a weak and unimaginative script could actually be made into a movie. The potential was there, but didn't happen. Not even close! I'm not giving anything away by saying there's a twist ending at the end, because if you didn't figure out the twist the instant the childhood friend character appeared onscreen then you have some problems. On the bright side, I did enjoy the acting. Everybody did a fine job and I especially liked the loan shark played by Kim Sung-Tae.
Anyway, A FRIEND IN NEED. Nice looking film, but the story is so simple that I thought it might be intentionally lulling me only to attack me with an awesome, mind-blowing ending, but no. It just ended and I was left completely disappointed. A year from now I won't even remember watching it.
