Film

New World

Name: New World
Genre: Thriller, Crime, Drama, Action
Released: 2013
Cast: Lee Jung-jae, Choi Min-sik, Hwang Jung-min, Park Sung-woong, Song Ji-hyo

White-collar crime

New World is Park Hoon-jung's Korean gangster epic about an undercover cop buried so deep inside a corporate crime syndicate that when its boss suddenly dies, he finds himself positioned to inherit the throne he was sent to destroy. Slick, brutal, and morally exhausting, it's a film about betrayal conducted in tailored suits and boardrooms. For anyone who wants their crime saga cold, calculated, and dressed to kill.

TMDb rating

3.7

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like crime stories built on slow-burning gang politics, where the tension lives in who is lying to whom and the violence arrives like a hammer blow.

Skip it if the runtime is long at over two hours, and the middle stretches of double-crossing and shifting allegiances can feel knotty and talky when you want the action to land.

What it asks of you: Settle in for a patient, two-plus-hour stretch with plenty of brooding conversation, then bursts of brutal, sudden violence that keep you alert.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Infernal Affairs2002

This is the film that basically invented the genetic code New World is built from - a mole so deep undercover he's forgotten which side he's actually on, told with cool, tragic restraint.

But Subtler and quieter than New World's operatic violence; if you came for spectacle, this feels almost polite by comparison.

A Bittersweet Life2005

Kim Jee-woon's stylish Korean gangster tragedy shares New World's tailored suits, betrayal, and sense of inevitable doom, with Lee Byung-hun at his most elegantly wounded.

But More of a solitary revenge fable than an ensemble power struggle - less plotting, more mood and violence.

Nameless Gangster2012

Choi Min-sik again, this time playing the corrupt fixer rather than the cop, in a sprawling saga about how organized crime and the establishment quietly merge.

But Slower and more satirical than New World; the dark humor undercuts some of the tension you might be craving.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from New World

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Throne of Blood1957

Both hinge on the same structural spark - the death of a boss or king leaving his most trusted men to tear each other apart for the throne.

Kurosawa restages Macbeth in feudal Japan, and the result is the ur-text for every 'leader dies, chaos among the loyal' story since - New World's plot machinery, four centuries and one continent removed.

But Black and white, in Japanese, theatrical and slow by modern pacing - a real commitment if you came in expecting shootouts.

The Departed2006

Scorsese's Boston remake of the same undercover-mole DNA, if you want the American cousin - twin moles, one crime family, and Jack Nicholson having a terrifying ball.

But You've probably already seen it, and its energy is punchier and more darkly comic than New World's slow dread.

The Yellow Sea2010

Na Hong-jin's brutal, sprawling thriller about a man sent across borders to kill for a crime boss, with the same tangled loyalties and merciless plotting.

But Even bleaker and more exhausting in its violence - this one doesn't offer much relief along the way.

Asura: The City of Madness2016

If New World's corruption fascinated you, this turns it up to eleven - a city where every cop and gangster is compromised, filmed with punishing, unglamorous brutality.

But Almost unrelentingly grim, with barely a sympathetic character in sight - not a comfortable watch.

I Saw the Devil2010

A different genre - revenge horror rather than crime saga - but the same eye for elegant, disturbing violence and moral rot beneath handsome surfaces.

But Far more graphically violent and disturbing than New World, verging into outright horror territory.

Cold War2012

A Hong Kong police-procedural about institutional betrayal at the top, all boardroom tension and corporate hierarchy rather than street violence - the suits, minus the blood.

But More cerebral and bureaucratic; if you want action, this trades it for meetings and manoeuvring.

The Man from Nowhere2010

Won Bin as a quiet man drawn into the underworld to save a child - less corporate intrigue, more pure kinetic Korean action, but the same stylish menace.

But Simpler and more straightforward than New World's political chess game - less to chew on afterward.

On the Waterfront1954

Same moral engine as New World - an insider's slow realization that loyalty to the organization and loyalty to himself cannot both survive.

Decades before Korean crime cinema found its voice, this told the same story from the inside - a man embedded in a corrupt organization, torn between loyalty and conscience, forced to choose a side.

But Black-and-white 1950s Hollywood moralism, with none of New World's stylised violence or scale - it's quieter and more sermon-like.

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex2002

Both are studies of people who've spent so long undercover inside an institution that the line between their real self and their assigned role disappears.

A Japanese anime police procedural about agents whose identities blur under the demands of the organizations they serve - the same tangled loyalty, dressed in cyberpunk instead of tailored suits.

But Episodic anime pacing and sci-fi trappings are a world away from New World's grounded crime setting - it asks patience for a slow-burn format.