Notable Cast: Byun Yo-han, Roh Jae-won, Miyoshi Ayaka, Ihara Tsuyoshi
Back in 2006, Choi Dong-hoon launched an unexpected franchise with Tazza: The High Rollers, an iconic South Korean film of the era that fans point to when speaking of the country's most entertaining films. Since then, a multitude of sequels and TV series have spanned the decades since the webtoon was first adapted. Needless to say, Tazza has become big and we see regular entries in the cinematic endeavors every handful of years, and while I have yet to see One-eyed Jacks (entry) I am a fan of both Choi's original film and the first follow-up from Kang Hyeong-cheol in 2014, The Hidden Card. How does Tazza: The Song of Beelzebub stack up against its previous counterparts? Let's take a gamble and see.
Jang Tae-Young (Byun Yo-Han) is a very cunning and extremely intelligent man who starts a gambling business. He brings his friend Park Tae-Young (Roh Jae-Won), a poker prodigy, on board to embark on this business adventure together. Park, while the more gifted of the two, always feels inferior to Jang and his natural knack for taking big risks and ultimately earning huge payouts in life, but he ends up betraying his partner and leaving him stranded with nothing. I don't wanna spoil where things lead, but in a revenge-set fashion, Jang is out to make it back into the fray and to get to the bottom of his sudden situation.
What plays out, while tonally all over the place, is an entertaining ride worth scoping out for fans of the franchise. I think since the films don't overlap characters, it will be very easy for a newcomer to jump into to this one. The strengths of the film lie in the performance of Jang, who, while you don't really like the guy at first, it is hard not to root for someone who is scratching and clawing their way back out of their own personal hell, and he leans into that redemption role with finesse and a range that is admirable. The technical side of the film is strong as ever in the franchise, with plenty of greatly edited moments and impeccable lighting to set the mood for the film's many seedy but entertaining gambling scenes, which range from nice casinos to championships that are being televised, down to a crummy boat packed with cigarette smoke and lots of furrowed eyebrows. It's great!
Where Tazza: The Song of Beelzebub didn't seem to fully play its cards right for me was with some of the jarring tonal shifts and even a totally bizarre nightmare scene that has some creative but very unfortunate digital effects work that got an unexpected belly laugh out of me, and really took me out of the moment. I also think Park's backstory is a fascinating idea, but it is poorly executed, and the mother in that scene was so loud and over-the-top with her performance that I once again found myself shoved out of the film's otherwise alluring story. I know this is all based on a webtoon, which I hear great things about, but have personally never read, but the film doesn't seem to lean into being bombastic enough often enough to where moments like that end up landing. It shifts from feeling subtle and stripped back to feeling like a graphic novel to being funny and warm, and I thought, wow, the first two films in this series felt really cool and suave, and that isn't really the case here. It manages to step around that feeling entirely, but again, I think it nails some things quite well.
The international cast and multi-country story are a neat addition, giving Beelzebub a unique flair that keeps things visually varied and entertaining. The English isn't always pretty, and some of it seems ADR'd pretty hardcore, but these things don't bother me as much as others, though they're still worth mentioning. Gambling scenes are stylishly shot, and the score that comes on during these setpieces really adds to the intensity of each game. You feel right in the middle of the action, and it is easy to follow along with these scenes without feeling as if you have to be some card-playing guru yourself, and the film gets big points for making its central games feel so easily accessible. In these moments, the film really screams the cool Tazza feeling that I think it lacks otherwise. As uneven as it is, the moment-to-moment action is pitch-perfect, and it shines brightest in these moments. The ending is pretty great, and seeing how it all comes together feels classic Tazza.
While this fourth entry in the franchise may not reinvent the wheel or push the series in a new direction, it does try enough different things to set itself apart from the earlier outings, and it makes the right moves more often than not. I'm not sure how long this one will stick with me months from now, but I was glad to take this journey with these characters, and in the end I was thoroughly entertained, and sometimes that is all you need: a good, thrilling piece of popcorn entertainment. Tazza: The Song of Beezlebub gets a solid recommendation to fans of the series and newcomers alike.
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