The Wild ~ Why Living a Quiet Life is Impossible

“The Wild” is a 2023 Korean film, categorized as a Crime Thriller; and streaming free on Tubi TV.

SUMMARY: A professional boxer served time in prison because he killed his competitor in the boxing ring. Before he went to prison, he had a “friend” involved in criminal activities. When he was released from prison, his friend approached and asked him about working for him. He refused and said he just wanted to live a quiet life. But is that possible?

♦ South Korean Gangsters and North Korean Drug Smugglers Equal BAD Combo!

In “The Wild”, Song Woo-Cheol is a fantastic boxer. But Jang Do-Sik, his boss, and so-called friend, would rig the fights for gambling purposes. Why? Because that’s what gangsters do! He’s a gangster but he would prefer to be called “President”. That sounds more legitimate, even though his business is as crooked as it gets – gambling, prostitution, illegal drugs, crooked cops on his payroll, etc.

Song Woo-Cheol was shocked that the young man he fought died in the ring. He could not understand it but he could not deny it. As punishment, he was sentenced to serve eight (8) years but was released early because of good behavior. His “friend”, President Jang, was there to greet him when he walked beyond the prison doors with an offer of employment. There was plenty of work to be done. A gangster’s business is always busy. Song Woo-Cheol graciously declined the offer saying that he just wanted to go somewhere and live a quiet life. His boss, his so-called friend, did not press him because he knew he would talk to him later, once he got settled. Instead, the boss arranged for his friend to have a place to stay. When Song Woo-Cheol went inside his room there was a prostitute there waiting to “serve” him. He graciously declined her “services” and when she left he did not have intentions of seeing her again. But the prostitute probably had plans to see him.

The prostitute was a regular customer of Jo Jung-Gon, a crooked cop on Jang’s payroll. She was also the girlfriend of the young boxer Woo-Cheol had killed in the ring. These were details Woo-Cheol would find out later. The prostitute put her phone number in his cell phone contacts and told him to call when he wanted her “services”. She got his phone number as well. When Woo-Cheol visited the grave to pay his respects he saw a photo of the prostitute and the boxer which showed that they were in a relationship. He found out about her “professional” relationship with Jo Jung-Gon, the crooked cop, because she called him and he heard her screaming. He rushed to her rescue and beat up Jung-Gon very badly. But he did not know that Jung-Gon worked for Jang. When he realized it, he had to settle things with Jang and the crooked cop.

Jang was secretly happy that Woo-Cheol had made a “mistake”. That meant he had to make amends. After all, Jo Jung-Gon is a crooked cop who is needed to cover up Jang’s crimes. Jang buys drugs from Ri Gak-Soo, a smuggler from North Korea. WOW! South Korean gangsters engaged in illegal drug deals with North Korean drug smugglers and a crooked cop helps cover it all up! Woo-Cheol’s chivalry in rescuing a prostitute was about to upset all of that! It wasn’t intentional. He did not know that Jo Jung-Gon was the prostitute’s regular customer nor did he know the guy worked for Jang.

Nevertheless, Jang told him he messed up and had to fix it! Jang had his hooks in him once again. As part of fixing the mess, Woo-Cheol had to work as a bodyguard for all of the prostitutes on Jang’s payroll. So much for going off to live a quiet life and watch sunsets. From that point, how could Woo-Cheol’s life possibly get any better? He was working and wrestling with criminals once again. All thanks to his “friend”.

Main Characters:

• Song Woo-Cheol (played by Park Sung-Woong*)
• Jang Do-Sik (played by Oh Dae-Hwan)
• Ri Gak-Soo (played by Oh Dal-Su)
• Jo Jung-Gon (played by Joo Suk-Tae)

*K-dramas starring Park Sung-Woong:

• The Killing Vote
• Bloodhounds
• Unlock My Boss
• Rugal
• Hundred Million Stars From the Sky
• Man to Man
• Remember: War of Son
• OK! Madam
• The Dude In Me
• Love, Lies
• Monstrum

Where to Watch

Viewership and Rating:

• IMDb: 5.5 out of 10 stars
• My Drama List: 7.2 out of 10 stars
• Letterboxd: 3 out of 5 stars

My personal rating is the same as Letterboxd.

I lifted a quote from a review published by cityonfire.com:

• “The Wild is the latest entry in Korea’s gangster canon, and like its counterparts it takes all of the elements that defined its 2000’s era ancestors and distils them down to their purest form – for better or worse.”

Yep yep. It’s a hard-core gangsta flick from start to finish. Besides, it stars Park Sung-Woong. Does he ever give a bad performance? His range and versatility as an actor is incredible!

If you like Korean gangster movies you’ll probably like “Kill Boksoon”, and “Hopeless”. They were also released in 2023. You might want to watch these three (3) as a weekend movie binge.

LINKS OF INTEREST:

‘The Wild’ Film Review: A Vivid and Complex Korean Crime Thriller | The Movie Revue

Wild, The (2023) Review | cityonfire.com

Movie Review: Korean gangsters try the double and triple cross with a Boxer/Ex-Con, “The Wild” | Movie Nation

TRAILER/TEASER:

EonTalk. “The Wild (2023) 더 와일드: 야수들의 전쟁 Movie Trailer.” YouTube, 1 Nov. 2023, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMVKPFkL1DE.

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