People often get confused when they start digging into who made the movie Big Bang. Usually, they are looking for the 2007 South Korean action-comedy Big Bang (released internationally as Going by the Book or Kwon-soon-boon Yeo-sa Sang-pwa-gi), but sometimes the wires get crossed with the theoretical "Big Bang" documentaries or even the sitcom. Let's be clear: the 2007 film is a masterpiece of social satire disguised as a heist flick.
It wasn't just one person. Filmmaking is a mess of moving parts. But if you want to point a finger at the creative engine, you have to look at the director, Park Jung-woo.
The Visionary Behind the Lens: Park Jung-woo
Park Jung-woo didn't just wake up and decide to make a movie about a man who takes a bank robbery drill too seriously. He has a history. Before he made the movie Big Bang, Park was largely known for his sharp screenwriting. He wrote Jail Breakers (2002) and Last Present (2001). You can see that DNA in Big Bang. He likes characters who are stuck in systems that don't work.
The movie stars Kam Woo-sung and Kim Su-ro. Honestly, the chemistry between these two is what keeps the engine humming. Kam plays Park Man-su, a guy so straight-laced he makes a ruler look crooked. Kim plays Chul-gon, a career criminal. When Man-su finally snaps after a lifetime of following the rules, the movie shifts from a character study into a high-octane road movie.
The production was handled by Cinema Service. This is important because Cinema Service was a massive player in the 2000s Korean film renaissance. They gave Park the budget to actually blow things up, which, let’s be real, is half the fun of a movie titled Big Bang.
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Why the Script Mattered More Than the Stunts
Most people think action movies are just about the "boom." They aren't. When Park Jung-woo made the movie Big Bang, he was tapping into a very specific Korean sentiment: "Han." It’s that deep-seated feeling of resentment and grief.
Man-su is a victim of a rigid society. He gets fired. His wife wants a divorce. He gets a ticket for urinating in the street. It’s the "Falling Down" trope but with a distinctly Seoul-based flavor. The script—also penned by Park—works because it asks a terrifying question. What happens when the most polite man in the world decides he’s done being polite?
The Technical Grind
Shooting this thing wasn't easy. They had to coordinate massive car chases through urban areas. The cinematography by Choi Young-hwan is gritty. It doesn't look like a polished Marvel movie. It looks like 2007. It feels humid and frantic. Choi later went on to shoot Veteran and The Thieves, so you know the guy has an eye for scale.
The editing is punchy. It has to be. If the pacing slows down for even five minutes, the absurdity of the plot starts to feel a bit too ridiculous.
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The Cultural Impact You Probably Missed
When the film hit theaters in March 2007, it wasn't a global record-breaker. But it struck a nerve domestically. At the time, South Korea was undergoing rapid economic shifts, and the "salaryman" culture was feeling the squeeze.
A lot of critics at the time compared it to the work of Ryoo Seung-wan. It has that same "street" energy. But Park Jung-woo's touch is more cynical. He isn't interested in heroes. He's interested in people who have been pushed into a corner.
Is it a perfect movie? No. Some of the slapstick comedy in the second act feels a bit dated now. The tonal shifts can be jarring. You go from a tragic scene about a man losing his family to a high-speed chase involving a stolen police car. But that's the charm. It’s messy.
The Legacy of the 2007 Big Bang
Years later, Park Jung-woo went on to direct Deranged (2012) and Pandora (2016). You can see the evolution. He moved from small-scale social frustration to full-blown disaster movies. But many fans still go back to when he made the movie Big Bang because it felt more personal. It wasn't about a virus or a nuclear meltdown; it was about a guy who just wanted to be treated with a little bit of dignity.
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Interestingly, the film is often confused with Going by the Book (Bareun Saenghwal), which came out the same year and has a similar "drill gone wrong" premise. If you’re looking for the one with the high-stakes police pursuit and the social meltdown, you’re looking for Park Jung-woo’s Big Bang.
How to Watch and What to Look For
If you’re planning a rewatch or seeing it for the first time, keep these points in mind to get the most out of it:
- Pay attention to the color palette. Notice how the world looks grey and muted while Man-su is a "good citizen," and how the colors start to pop once he starts breaking the law.
- Track the sound design. The city noise is intentionally overwhelming in the first thirty minutes. It creates that claustrophobic feeling that explains Man-su's eventual "big bang."
- Look for the cameos. There are several recognizable faces from the mid-2000s Korean TV scene that pop up in the supporting cast.
If you want to understand the modern wave of Korean cinema—the stuff that led to Parasite or Squid Game—you have to watch these mid-2000s genre pieces. They laid the groundwork. They showed that you could take a "dumb" action premise and use it to talk about class, labor, and mental health.
Go find a copy of the 2007 Big Bang. Skip the trailers—they make it look like a generic comedy. It’s much darker and more interesting than the marketing suggests. Once you’ve seen it, compare it to Park’s later work like Pandora to see how a director’s obsession with "the system" grows over a twenty-year career.