Gate ~ The Crime of the Century? (Not Really.)
“Gate” is a 2018 Korean movie, categorized as Crime and Comedy; and streaming on Freevee and Tubi TV (platforms that stream free content with ads).
SUMMARY: If you can steal my money from me, can you steal her money for me?
♦ A Loan Shark Can Be Reasonable (NOT!)
So-Eun is down on her luck. It isn’t bad enough that she got fired from her part-time job, but her roommate, Mi-Ae, took out a loan with a loan shark. When So-Eun gets to her apartment, two thugs are standing outside trying to get inside. Oh no! What has Mi-Ae done? It’s just a loan of about $100,000 ($70,000 plus interest). The guys work for Min-Wook, and they want his money! If the debtor can’t pay, they are willing to harvest their organs instead. So-Eun tells the men to go away, and she’ll make sure they get their money. She vouches for her roommate.
Gyu-Cheol is So-Eun’s next-door neighbor. Not that it’s any of his business, but he overheard the conversation, jumped in, and said he would vouch for them too! Gyu-Cheol has a few “loose screws” in his brain. He was a victim of a hit-and-run accident. The assailant probably intended to kill him, but he survived. Before the accident, he was a prosecutor working on a difficult case regarding corruption in the Blue House. But he has no memory of who he used to be or what he was working on. He’s mentally challenged at the moment, and who knows when or IF he’ll ever regain his memory and his competency.
So-Eun is always nice to him like a good neighbor, and Gyu-Cheol wants to return the favor, even though he can’t even pay his rent or electricity bill. His heart is in the right place. The thugs drag So-Eun and Mi-Ae to the loan shark’s office, and she promises to pay off the loan within a month. Min-Wook is instantly attracted to So-Eun. Naturally, he put his best foot forward, and pretended to be a reasonable, legitimate businessman, and said he was willing to agree to her promise to pay the loan in a month. But later on he gets in touch with her again and tries to proposition her. He offers to pay her handsomely if she agrees to date him. Heck! He’ll pay her $3,000 if she just shows him her breasts. Yeah! He’s a king-sized jerk!
♦ YAY! Daddy’s Home (NOT!)
Meanwhile, Jang-Choon, So-Eun’s father, has just been released from prison. Cheol-Soo is his friend and also the reason he went to jail. Jang-Choon took the blame for a crime Cheol-Soo suggested and got caught. When they both showed up at So-Eun’s apartment, she told them they were not welcome!
Jang-Choon found out that his daughter was being threatened by a loan shark, so he and Cheol-Soo decided to steal some money. So-Eun found out about it and said she wanted in on the heist. WHAT??!! She wanted to break into the loan shark’s safe and steal his money! They all agreed, managed to get in, get the money, and get out. But Gyu-Cheol was picked up on the camera, and they all got caught.
♦ A Loan Shark Can Be Greedy? YES!
Min-Wook was kind of impressed that they pulled off the job and stole from him. But he knew where there was a lot more money than what was in his safe. Jang-Choon seized the opportunity to brag that he had 30 years of experience breaking into safes and could do any heist. So Min-Wook made a deal with them. If they broke into his boss’s safe, he would forgive their debt and even split some of the money with them. Deal? DEAL!!
Main Characters:
- So-Eun (played by Jung Ryeo-Won, “Witch’s Court”, “The Midnight Romance in Hagwon”, “Castaway on the Moon”, “Wok of Love”, “May It Please The Court”)
- Gyu-Cheol (played by Im Chang-Jung*)
- Min-Wook (played by Jung Sang-Hoon, “Heung-Boo: The Revolutionist”, “Decibel” )
- Jang-Choon (played by Lee Kyoung-Young, “Monstrum”, “Steel Rain”, “The Magician”, “High School Return of a Gangster”, “Adamas”, “Doctor Lawyer”)
- Cheol-Soo (played by Lee Moon-Sik, “Mr. Baek“)
- Won-Ho (played by Kim Do-Hoon, “Love Scout”, “Your Honor”, “Moving”, “The Escape of the Seven 1 and 2”)
- Mi-Ae (played by Kim Bo-Min)
*Im Chang-Jung has a filmography that dates back to 1992. He is the Producer and Screenwriter for this movie.
Viewership and Rating:
- IMDb: 5.3 out of 10 stars
- My Drama List: 7 out of 10 stars
- JustDial: 5.1 out of 10 stars
My personal rating is the same as MDL.
The movie “Gate” is a good comedy. I kind of understand the low ratings because the plot is unbelievably corny. But the cast was unbelievably adorable. Bad guys should never underestimate the people they threaten. When a person’s survival instincts kick in, you don’t know what they might do! Also, contrary to Gordon Gekko in “Wall Street”, GREED IS NOT GOOD!
LINKS OF INTEREST:
Open ‘Gate’ for comic satire of reality | The Korea Herald
The 11 Best Korean Movies of 2018 | Cinema Escapist
Korean Action-Comedy Movies That Are to Die For | Movie Web
TRAILER/TEASER:
EMK17. “Gate – Trailer (게이트 예고편).” YouTube, 25 Feb. 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZO3n_lUjn0.
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