The popular Asian board game of Go is central to Jo Bum-Gu's Korean action movie, a revenge tale in which Tae-seok (Jung Woo-sung)—an erstwhile player on the professional circuit—tries to assist his debt-ridden brother in a high-stakes match against a gambling kingpin called Sal-soo, or Killer (Lee Bum-soo). Tae-seok's brother winds up dead and Tae-seok is sent to prison for murder, where he makes friends with a crime lord who trains him in martial arts in return for instruction in Go. Bent on avenging his brother, once he's released Tae-seok assembles (in Ocean's Eleven fashion) a crew of expert players—including a blind master called Drinking Jesus—to help him destroy Killer's gang from within before he takes on the boss himself. But Killer has the advantage of two females who excel at the game: a beautiful woman known as Navel and a street urchin with uncanny native talent. While there are plenty of scenes of people clicking the signature black-and-white stones onto the Go board in The Divine Move, even more sequences involve torture and prolonged fights, accompanied by great splashes of blood. Stylishly mounted and directed with flair, this will likely appeal to genre fans. Recommended. (F. Swietek)
The Divine Move
CJ Entertainment, 118 min., in Korean w/English subtitles and English-dubbed, not rated, DVD: $26.98, Blu-ray: $29.98, Mar. 17 Volume 30, Issue 3
The Divine Move
Star Ratings
As of March 2022, Video Librarian has changed from a four-star rating system to a five-star one. This change allows our reviewers to have a wider range of critical viewpoints, as well as to synchronize with Google’s rating structure. This change affects all reviews from March 2022 onwards. All reviews from before this period will still retain their original rating. Future film submissions will be considered our new 1-5 star criteria.
Order From Your Favorite Distributor Today: