As a gritty crime thriller BLOODY TIES ticks all of the right boxes. It’s humorously dark - it’s certainly violent - and it explores the shadows where more mainstream crime films dare not tread. BLOODY TIES indulges in a few fancy flourishes with flashy editing and technically impressive cinematography, but it also packs a good punch with its performances and straightforward approach to drugs - the people they effect and the politics that surround them. With definite echoes of eighties HK crime cinema BLOODY TIES still manages to cook up a distinctly Korean feel.

Its beginning to become apparent that Ryoo Seung-beom may be incapable of a giving a poor on-screen performance and BLOODY TIES is no exception - his performance is the key to the films success. Straight from the very opening scenes, he grabs your attention as the crystal-meth drug dealer Sang Do. As an actor Seung-beom manages to come across as totally natural which somehow helps endure him to you even when he’s playing fairly unlikeable characters. To be fair, Sang Do is also the best developed figure here - his voice-over narration is blackly humorous and he’s given a convincing ‘tragic’ background. The other half of the central partnership of the film (the word ‘partnership’ being used loosely) is Hwang Jeong-min’s Detective Ho. Although it’s still a pitch-perfect performance from Jeong-min, the character isn’t nearly so well written - the ‘renegade cop’ routine feels a little tired and his aggression for the job is never really explained. If Ho is driven by guilt of his own shortcomings (which is alluded to a couple of times) then there’s no real exploration of this. Still, when thrown against each other to form their unholy alliance Sang Do and Ho make an interesting pair who may be on opposite sides of the law, but aren‘t as different as they‘d like to think. BLOODY TIES concerns itself with exploring those ‘grey areas’, and doesn’t come from a straightforward moral ground of ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ as neither cop or dealer are in anyway ’good’ guys.

Sang Do may be the most appealing character but he’s still a drug dealer, and drugs are bad. In case we might be thinking otherwise, Choo Ja-hyeon’s drug addicted Ji-young is here to show us why. Willing to shag anyone who can provide her with her next fix, Ji-young initially seems to be the standard role labelled ‘drug-addled mess’, until she strikes up a convincing relationship with Sang Do. Although it’s a very small part, it’s quite effective and later in the film provides a moment which almost slaps us out of feeling too comfortable with Sang Do’s attitude. The rest of the supporting cast are very good - especially Kim Hee-ra as Sang Do’s Uncle.

While BLOODY TIES has the occasional predictable and overly coincidental plot development, it also provides a few nice unexpected twists. Never really letting you feel too comfortable with its main characters it forces you to make your own judgements and interpretations of their actions. It’s a more complex approach to take towards this type of material and one which could have resulted in a cold and distancing experience. Luckily its judged just right - we’re shown enough of these men to want to like them and to stick with them through to the end, but the film itself remains neutral, refusing to impose any judgement on either of them.

BLOODY TIES comes complete with some of the stylish visuals and tight editing which you would expect, and these successfully compliment and propel the main narrative and without overshadowing it. This is especially true of the first half of the film although the second half does seem a little less focused - as the plans and intentions of cop and dealer begin to unwind, so too does the film. Luckily there’s a fitting climax to the whole affair. There’s a hint of being a little contrived, but it ties up the plot and themes so well and is pretty powerful so the filmmakers get away with it without leaving us feeling cheated.

BLOODY TIES is a pretty solid and thoughtful film. It’s occasional plot weaknesses are made up for with great performances and the focus on the moral and social dilemma’s surrounding drugs and law-keeping make this more than your average crime actioner.