The sequel to the popular TAZZA: The High Rollers (2006), based on Hur Young-Man’s graphic novel, has for years been one of those allegedly sure-fire projects that somehow never got made. Several directors including Jang Joon-hwan (Save the Green Planet) were attached to it at various times, but in the end the veteran production company Sidus Pictures played it safe, hiring the hit-maker Kang Hyoung-chul, the mastermind behind megahits Scandal Maker (2008) and Sunny (2011). The ensuing film, TAZZA: The Hidden Card, received mixed reviews from critics but did well at the box office, with 4.02 million tickets sold to make it the seventh-highest grossing Korean film of 2014.
Director Kang does not waste time. The movie has barely begun and already he has introduced the “good guys”: Gwang-ryul (Yu Hae-jin), the partner of Goni from the original film; Goni’s nephew Daegil (singer/actor T.O.P. aka Choi Seung-hyun), a card-shark with a golden arm; and his love interest Mina (Sin Se-gyung). A bloody encounter with a gambling den bouncer, Ghost (Kim Jun-ho), forces the cocky Daegil to hide out south of the Han River, under the tutelage of “Mr. Stiff” (Lee Kyeong-yeong). Soon, however, he not only has to face conflicting feelings toward one of his “clientele,” President Woo (Lee Honey), but must also fight back against the machinations of evil usurer Dongshik (Kwak Do-won).
There is a lot to like in The Hidden Card. Kang Hyoung-chul certainly knows how to work viewers like a pro masseuse: he displays great skill at maintaining a speedy pace through the employment of colorful editorial gimmicks, as in, for instance, the hilariously time-compressed montage showing Daegil and President Woo getting into a romantic entanglement. Yet he also juggles tone shifts toward darker material such as human trafficking and mutilation as a punishment for failed tricks (Kang’s narrative texture is much slicker but rawer than Choi Dong-hoon’s original film). He keeps the dialogue flying fast and funny, yet carefully reigns in the actors, maintaining the integrity of the ensemble.
The technical specs are superb, in many ways superior to the original, with DP Kim Tae-gyung (Broken) and lighting director Hong Seung-cheol’s beautiful and evocative cinematography, production designers Kim Si-yong (The Terror: Live) and Park Jae-wan’s (Neighbors) colorful settings and Kim Jun-seok’s (Howling) eclectic musical score all contributing to the overall high quality of the production.
The large cast contributes greatly to the film’s entertainment value. Honey Lee is sexy and dangerous like a bejeweled coral snake, though no match for the original’s Kim Hye-soo. On the other hand, T.O.P. of Big Bang, the ultra-handsome hip hop artist, is charismatically emotive and carries the film effortlessly. Sin Se-gyoung works hard, even flashing her derriere in a shameless moment of audience-baiting, but sometimes comes off as pouty instead of strong-willed.
The main problem with the sequel is that, even given its open commitment to genre clichés, it is so full of hairpin curves, backstabbing twists and Mexican stand-offs that it eventually becomes exhausting. The film clocks in at two hours twenty-seven minutes, when in fact just under two hours would have been sufficient. In the final half hour, Kang mounts a lavish, bloody climactic confrontation between good guys and villains, seemingly trying to outdo the original’s final gambling duel, but it ends up being too much of a good thing.
TAZZA: The Hidden Card is well-made and entertaining, and those who participated in it have nothing to be ashamed of. But I wish it were more memorable than it ultimately is. It works hard to give us pleasure, but ends up forgetting to touch our hearts.