''Tough as Iron'' () is a 2013 South Korean film written and directed by

Ahn Gwon-tae Ahn or AHN may refer to: People * Ahn (Korean surname), a Korean family name occasionally Romanized as ''An'' * Ahn Byeong-keun (born 1962, ), South Korean judoka * Ahn Eak-tai (1906–1965, ), Korean composer and conductor * Ahn Jung-hwan (born 1 ...

, starring

Yoo Ah-in Yoo may refer to: * Yoo (Korean surname), also spelled Ryu or Yu, a Korean family name * YOO, the IATA code for Oshawa Airport See also *You In Modern English, ''you'' is the second-person pronoun. It is grammatically plural, and was histor ...

in the title role.

Plot

Gang Cheol (whose name means "iron" in

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju language ** ...

) was once a legendary street gangster in

Busan Busan (), officially known as is South Korea's most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.4 million inhabitants. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economic, cultural and educational center of southeastern South Korea, w ...

, but he put away his fists and cleaned up his act for the sake of his mother Soon-i, who has

dementia Dementia is a disorder which manifests as a set of related symptoms, which usually surfaces when the brain is damaged by injury or disease. The symptoms involve progressive impairments in memory, thinking, and behavior, which negatively affe ...

. Things are going well for him; he now works as a

stevedore A stevedore (), also called a longshoreman, a docker or a dockworker, is a waterfront manual laborer who is involved in loading and unloading ships, trucks, trains or airplanes. After the shipping container revolution of the 1960s, the number o ...

at a loading dock and is pursuing a relationship with Soo-ji, a free-spirited woman from

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

vacationing in the port city. But Soon-i is diagnosed with kidney failure and needs an expensive organ transplant that he cannot afford. Knowing that Cheol is desperate for money, local gang leader Sang-gon proposes that Cheol come work for him and his brother Hwi-gon. At first Cheol refuses, but when his debt-ridden best friend Jong-soo gives the deed to Cheol's house to Sang-gon as collateral for a private loan, he's left with no choice but to get dragged back into Busan's criminal underworld. Cheol is ordered to kill a visiting Japanese

Yakuza , also known as , are members of transnational organized crime syndicates originating in Japan. The Japanese police and media, by request of the police, call them , while the ''yakuza'' call themselves . The English equivalent for the term ...

boss whose death will enable Sang-gon's ascension within the Korean branch of the mob organization.

Cast

as Gang Cheol *

Kim Hae-sook Kim Hae-sook (; born December 30, 1955) is a South Korean actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a Character (arts), character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in ...

as Kim Soon-i *

Kim Jung-tae Kim Jung-tae (born Kim Tae-wook on December 13, 1972) is a South Korean actor. He is best known for his supporting roles on film and television. Career He made his acting debut in 1999 with the film ''The Uprising'' under his birth name Kim Tae- ...

as Sang-gon *

Kim Sung-oh Kim Sung-oh (born September 15, 1978) is a South Korean actor. He is best known for his supporting roles ''Supporting Roles'' ( es, Papeles secundarios) is a 1989 Cuban drama film directed by Orlando Rojas. The film was selected as the Cub ...

as Hwi-gon * Jung Yu-mi as Jo Soo-ji *

Lee Si-eon Lee Si-eon (born Lee Bo-yeon on July 3, 1982) is a South Korean actor. He is best known for his comic supporting role in the popular campus drama ''Reply 1997 ''Reply 1997'' () is a 2012 South Korean television series that centers on the liv ...

as Jong-soo *

Shin Jung-geun Shin Jung-geun (born September 26, 1966) is a South Korean actor. He is most active as a supporting actor in films such as ''Running Turtle'' (2009), '' In Love and War'' (2011), ''The Grand Heist'' (2012), and '' The Five'' (2013), as well as t ...

as Yagami *

Bae Seul-ki Bae Seul-ki ( ko, 배슬기, born September 27, 1986) is a South Korean singer and actress. She made her entertainment debut as a member of The Red, but has since become a solo singer. Career Debut Bae Seul-ki studied Theater and Film at San ...

as Go Jae-sook *

Jang Tae-sung Jang Tae-sung (born September 27, 1980) is a South Korean actor. He has mostly played supporting role A supporting character is a character in a narrative that is not the focus of the primary storyline, but is important to the plot/protago ...

as Lee Byeong-hee * Kim Byeong-seo as Poloti * Kim Seo-kyeong as Chyurining * Choi Young-sung as Adidas * Song Young-chang as Hwan-gyu *

Kim Hyun-sook Kim Hyun-sook (born October 16, 1978) is a South Korean actress and comedian. She is best known for playing the title character in ''Ugly Miss Young-ae'', a long-running sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational come ...

as Organ broker * Go In-beom as Police substation captain * Lee Jeong-heon as Director of internal medicine department

Release

''Tough as Iron'' opened in South Korean theaters on October 2, 2013. It grossed on 1,209,363 admissions. It also received a limited theatrical release in the United States (October 11, 2013) and Japan (May 2014).

References

External links

*
''Tough as Iron''
at

CJ Entertainment CJ Entertainment (Hangul: CJ 엔터테인먼트) is a South Korean film production and distribution company under CJ ENM. The company operates as a film production company, film publishing house, investment and exhibition. History During early 1 ...

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tough as Iron 2013 films 2010s Korean-language films South Korean action drama films Yakuza films 2010s Japanese films 2010s South Korean films