Critic Reviews

• Linda Barnard, Toronto Star

  New World tries to expand the genre with nods to The Godfather but can't escape the over-the-top acting, expansive violence and overdone story typical of Seoul-made crime dramas.

• Jeannette Catsoulis, New York Times

  "New World" is both less bloody and more thoughtful than most of its genre, the shifting-alliances plot becoming more engrossing as it progresses.

• Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com

  No one in American movies has made a crime opera this good in years.

• Gary Goldstein, Los Angeles Times

  Writer-director Hoon-jung Park tells this twisty story of internecine warfare within a Korean corporate crime syndicate with patience, elegance and no small amount of bloodshed.

• David Fear, Time Out New York

  Gangster-movie fanatics should take note: New World dishes out enough of the genre's oldest pleasures to make it worthwhile.

• Nick Schager, Village Voice

  Park's direction is sleek and assured, but lacking the dynamism that might help energize a film that-its title notwithstanding-comes off as dully old-school.

• Diva Velez, TheDivaReview.com

  Tense, dark, violent and brilliantly acted, if New World is any indication of what's in store for the future of the Asian cop drama; harder, sharper, yet finessed and even elegant, then carry on Korea.

• Katherine Monk, Canada.com

  Living up to the core of the noir tradition, New World takes a long view of the human species and dissects us with the cold, surgical blade of a laboratory scientist.

• Kevin Jagernauth, The Playlist

  Smart, sharp entertainment that meets expectations dead on...if you've been looking for another The Departed-esque movie to keep you guessing, this would be a good place to start.

• David Noh, Film Journal International

  Reverse-engineered from several gangster classics, New World is like the knockoff shades and counterfeit wristwatches its antihero complains about: flashy but ultimately cheap.

• Chris Sawin, Examiner.com

  New World is just an intense crime thriller that is solid from beginning to end no matter how you look at it.

• Jason Anderson, The Grid

  However familiar its moves may sometimes be, New World continually punches above its weight and that's true even when the screen isn't filled with black-suited extras assaulting each other with knives and baseball bats.

• Tina Hassannia, Slant Magazine

  This is action-thriller feather preening, but all the wit in the world can't hide the narrative sprawl that rots from within.

Read all 13 critic reviews