(News Focus) Ryoo's life-long pursuit of Korean-style action paid off

By Shim Sun-ah

SEOUL, Aug. 28 (Yonhap) -- In the Korean film market, numerous films have so far surpassed 10 million in attendance, a significant standard for top-earning movies.

For director Ryoo Seung-wan, known as Korea's "action kid" for having grown up to be an action auteur from a kid fascinated by the genre, however, his reach to the milestone for "Veteran" Saturday may have far more significance: His life-long efforts to build a unique Korean-style action genre has paid off.

Despite his stubborn pursuit of the genre and status as one of the leading filmmakers in the country, he didn't have the luck for a box-office bonanza before.

Starring Hwang Jung-min, Yoo Ah-in, Yoo Hae-jin and Oh Dal-su, "Veteran" is an action-packed film that follows a veteran detective who stands up to an arrogant and cruel heir of a rich family as he delves into the mysterious death of a truck driver that he knew.

Before the film, the 7.16 million for the 2012 film "The Berlin File," a spy thriller starring Ha Jung-woo, Han Suk-kyu and Jun Ji-hyun, was the best attendance record for the director with a career spanning nearly 20 years. The success, however, hardly drew media attention as "Miracle in Cell No. 7," which opened a week later than "The Berlin File," topped the 10 million at that time.

His preceding films such as "The Unjust" (2010) and "Arahan" (2004) failed to create a sensation in theaters despite favorable reviews from critics, reporters and action-movie fans.

Critics have bought into the relentless challenge to make action-packed genre films by the then fresh-faced director who gave the movie scene some shock treatment with his debut feature, "Die Bad."

Revenues from his following films, however, were disastrous.

"No Blood No Tears," a 2001 movie starring Jeon Do-yeon and Lee Hye-young, was seen by only 220,000 people while "Crying Fist," a 2004 film about boxers, attracted 1.71 million viewers. "The City of Violence" (2006) secured only 1.19 million admissions.

In 2007, his action-comedy film "Dachimawa Lee" inflicted him huge financial losses, collecting only about 630,000 audiences.

The long-awaited success of "Veteran" earned him a new title, "an action master" in and out of the country.

"For me, the process of making a film is a kind of study and training. Now I feel that I've learned something," the 41-year-old said in a recent media interview.

Chung Ji-wook, a movie critic, agreed, saying that "Veteran" is far more like his signature film than his preceding works. "We can find that he surely has made a progress in that he learned how to communicate with the audience."

Aside from the recognition, the film's success is expected to help ease its studio's financial woes. Filmmaker R & K, led by his wife Kang Hye-jeong, has secured 76 billion won (US$64.8 million) in revenue for the film as of Thursday, according to media reports. This is big money considering the movie's production cost of close to 6 billion won.

sshim@yna.co.kr
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