LEE Doo-yong has covered an extensive range of genres in the course of his prolific career, and since the 1980s he has been viewed, both in Korea and abroad, as having captured the sentiments of the Korean people through works on distinctively Korean themes.
[...] After the initial stage of his career, his films began to reveal a determination to follow his own path, especially in the action genre. It may be fitting to call him a “master of action,” such is the extent to which it is impossible to discuss his films without mentioning their action elements. [...] LEE saw the genre as having possibilities for transcending Korea and reaching out to communicate with the global market.
[...] LEE creates universal images of the human being within a wide range of times and social realities. Even when this method of expression seems removed from the reality of the present, or when there seems to be little in the way of a direct message being sent, the director ultimately has to use the lives lived by his characters to comment on the historical situation or on life in general.
- From the Preface