As the suspense slackens and blood starts spilling nearly to the point of self-parody, it almost seems designed as a test of mettle - for both the filmmakers and the audience.

Winningly over-the-top Korean gangster drama Asura: The City of Madness is what you'd get if you combined The Wire with a really good soap opera.

Splattered with Korean aesthetics of troglodytic violence and blighted by irredeemable characters, Kim Sung-soo's Asura: The City of Madness is a stygian crime thriller that casts a jaundiced eye at South Korean regional politics.

Former cop Do-kyeong lays out the basic theme of "Asura: The City of Madness" pretty clearly in the opening narration panorama above his local wasteland. People are terrible. And we should hate them all. Every last one.