What does this film share with the original, besides its name? Well, it's by the same director, and it shares a rather similar plot in terms of having a female crime boss. Other than that, I think that's where the similarities are supposed to end.
I'm one of the few around here who was a HUGE fan of the first film, so I wasn't too pleased to see a new installment without Shin Eun-kyung in it. I guess they botched up her character's story so much in the sloppy sequel that the director decided it would be better to start over with a fresh cast and a story similar to the first one.
All this is rather strange, since at one time, Zhang Ziyi was cast in the film, playing opposite. . . Shin Eun-kyung!!! At that time, the plot for My Wife is a Gangster 3 was supposed to have Shin Eun-kyung's female organized crime boss heading to China to take revenge for a murder, where she would encounter Zhang's character, the boss of a triad. Now THAT would have been a great film, imo. But the film released a few weeks ago sound quite different. A description from Korean critic Kim Hyun:
The film unfolds with a feast in Hong Kong where Aryeong (Shu Qi), the daughter of a Hong Kong gang boss, is openly humiliated by her father's rivals. She is advised to hide abroad and chooses South Korea, the homeland of her mother, with whom she has lost contact since childhood.
Local gangster Han Gi-cheol (Lee Bum-soo) soon becomes her caretaker under orders from his boss, who is affiliated with Aryeong's father. If ever a mismatched couple were to hit the screen, this is it: serious, uptown girl takes on clumsy, talkative brute.
Since it's still in Korean theatres, I guess it'll be March or April before we see a DVD release. Still, I'm willing to give it a look. Maybe it'll be successful enough for them to make a fourth film and bring back Shin Eun-kyung, and maybe cast Zhang Ziyi in it, too.
