South Korea Synopsis
깡철이
“Bound and determined.”
Gang-cheol is a legendary street fighter in Busan who cleaned up his act to care for his sick mother. Knowing he's desperate for money for his mother's operation, Sang-gon proposes that Gang-cheol works for him.
Titles With Overlapping Themes
Films and series that share thematic tags with Tough as Iron. Number on each card indicates how many keywords overlap.
Other Titles From CJ Entertainment
Drama + Action in South Korea
114 South Korea titles in our catalog blend the Drama and Action genres. Below: the top-rated of them (excluding Tough as Iron itself).
The 2012–2014 South Korea Window
Tough as Iron holds position #101 of 183 South Korea films in the 2012–2014 window, below highlighted by audience rating.
The 2010s South Korea Landscape
Catalog density by release year across the 2010s in South Korea, 719 titles in total. Highlighted year (yellow) is when Tough as Iron premiered alongside 56 others.
Position in Catalog
Released alongside 56 other South Korea films in 2013.
The 568th South Korea title from South Korea we index (earliest catalogued entry: 1955).
Our South Korea catalog contains 1,397 titles in total (931 films).
Audience Engagement
22 audience reviews — more than 45% of South Korea films in our index.
Popularity sits at the 36th percentile among South Korea films.
Thematic Fingerprint
Tags on Tough as Iron, grouped by how common each theme is across the full Asian catalog. Rare tags are more distinctive signals.
- surgery · 2
- insulin · 1
- busan · 25
- gun · 22
- car crash · 6
- south korea · 97
- yakuza · 93
Reception Benchmarks
Ranked #747 of 1,397 South Korea films indexed here (47th percentile by TMDB audience score).
Among South Korea Drama productions specifically: #520 of 868 (top 60%).
Production Details
| Primary Country | South Korea |
|---|---|
| Original Language | Korean |
| Production Companies | CJ Entertainment, Daemyung Culture Factory, Popcorn Film, Cinema Service, The Dream & Pictures |
| Runtime | 1h 48m |
| Release Date | October 2, 2013 |
| IMDb | tt3153628 |