Injeong sajeong bol geot eobtda

The entire film is a feast for the eyes that brings to mind the work of Hong Kong ace Wong Kar-Wai.

For all his mastery of his medium, Lee is no less effective in directing actors than in creating images.

The script's clichés have nowhere to hide.

This crowd-pleasing spectacle is like a series of showstopper sequences from a musical without much attention paid to the story that is supposed to hold it all together.

The characters are uniformly repulsive, the cliche-ridden script builds no real tension or psychological interest, and the bottom line is that Lee's innovative but ultimately tedious and even ludicrous MTV-style visuals add absolutely nothing to the story dynamics.

The action of this South Korean melodrama is fast and furious, but its emotions and ideas don't manage to keep up.

Lee's trickery is dazzling in flashes but also monotonously strenuous -- the derangement factor is high but there's little evidence of authentic lunacy.