The villain must shine to succeed... Will Kim Moo-yeol surpass Yoon Kye-sang and Son Seok-gu in ‘Crime City 4’?

The fourth villain of 'Crime City' is born. Following Yoon Kye-sang, Son Seok-gu, and Lee Jin-hyuk, this time it is Kim Moo-yeol. Kim Moo-yeol's shoulders are heavy as Ma Dong-seok's cool action scenes and the main villain's performance determine the evaluation of the work.

'Crime City 4' has been confirmed to be released on April 24th. Interest has increased further with the confirmation of the release date of this year's most anticipated film, 'Crime City'. 'Crime City 4' tells the story of a powerful detective, Ma Seok-do (Ma Dong-seok), who takes down the online illegal gambling organization of Baek Chang-gi (Kim Mu-yeol), a former special forces mercenary.

The main character of ‘Crime City’ is definitely Ma Dong-seok. However, what makes Ma Seok's character shine, played by Ma Dong-seok, is the villain. The audience feels catharsis in punishing the strong villain with Ma Dong-seok's action.

In Season 1 (2017), Yoon Kye-sang strongly revealed the presence of the main villain as 'Jang Chen'. It was a complete transformation for Yoon Kye-sang, who had mainly acted in romance and comedy in his previous works. With his all-white hair, venomous eyes, and Yanbian dialect, Yoon Kye-sang was a villain himself. The audience could not hide their surprise as Jang Chen created fear through cruel methods, such as chopping people up with an ax as his main weapon.

Season 2 (2022) ‘Kang Hae-sang’ Son Seok-gu also received as much favorable reviews as Yoon Kye-sang. It left such a strong impression that it was even evaluated as surpassing ‘Jang Chen’. It was a work that made the public recognize actor Son Seok-gu. The 'Crime City' series succeeded in exceeding 10 million viewers for the first time.

Expectations for ‘Crime City’ grew higher and higher. But have the standards also been raised? Season 3 was also a box office hit that attracted 10 million viewers, but the reviews were divided. There were many criticisms that Season 3's main villain Lee Jun-hyuk's Joo Seong-cheol character was weaker than in previous works. From Lee Jun-hyuk's point of view, it must have been a somewhat disappointing weekday, as he made efforts such as gaining 20 kg to play the role of a villain. There were also opinions that the inevitable limitations of the series could not be exceeded. It is true that it lacks freshness because the same characters appear in similar story lines. This is a task that the ‘Crime City’ team must take on and a mountain that must be overcome.

'Crime City 4' is directed by director Heo Myung-haeng, who was the martial arts director in the previous series. Ma Dong-seok also participated as a producer. Ma Dong-seok emphasized about 'Crime City 4', "There are action scenes you've never seen in movie history. I think you'll feel like you've never seen anything like this before."

Kim Moo-yeol has already worked with Ma Dong-seok in the movie 'The Villain', so he is receiving even more expectations. As for chemistry, it was proven in 'Bad Boy'. The key is how well he will play the role of the main villain. In addition to the main villain Kim Moo-yeol, two more villains appear in 'Crime City 4'. One of them is Lee Dong-hwi. Lee Dong-hwi appears as Jang Dong-cheol, a genius CEO in the IT industry, drawing a different picture from Kim Mu-yeol.

'Crime City 4', which was previously invited to the Special Gala section of the 74th Berlin International Film Festival, was evaluated as "the best of the series." Will it receive the same evaluation from domestic fans? Expectations are high on whether Ma Dong-seok will show a unique chemistry with Kim Moo-yeol, whom he introduced as “the actor who uses his body the best in Korea.” If the performance of villains such as Kim Moo-yeol in this season 4 is not satisfactory, the audience's interest in the 'Crime City' series is bound to gradually decrease.

Kim Seo-yoon, Ten Asia Reporter seogugu@tenasia.co.kr