{ "id": "ep0n19zgf7", "slug": "friend-2", "title": "Friend 2", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.crime-thriller-mystery", "label": "Crime, thriller, and mystery films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.crime-thriller-mystery" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.crime-thriller-mystery.2010-2014-films", "label": "2010–2014 films", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.crime-thriller-mystery.2010-2014-films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.crime-thriller-mystery.2010-2014-films.crime-films.alpha-symbols-to-l", "label": "Titles symbols to L", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.crime-thriller-mystery.2010-2014-films.crime-films.alpha-symbols-to-l" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.crime-thriller-mystery", "label": "Asia (other) · 2001 to 2020: Crime, thriller, and mystery films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.crime-thriller-mystery", "path": [ { "id": "geo.asia", "label": "Asia (other)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t2001", "label": "Asia (other) · 2001 to 2020", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2001" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t2001.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2001.culture" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.crime-thriller-mystery", "label": "Crime, thriller, and mystery films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.crime-thriller-mystery" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Friend 2 (친구 2, Friend: The Great Legacy) is Kwak Kyung-taek's 2013 South Korean neo-noir action sequel to Friend (2001), starring Yu Oh-seong, Joo Jin-mo, and Kim Woo-bin; released November 14, 2013, it drew 2,971,475 admissions in Korea.", "snippet": "Friend 2 (친구 2, Friend: The Great Legacy) is Kwak Kyung-taek's 2013 South Korean neo-noir action sequel to Friend (2001), starring Yu Oh-seong, Joo Jin-mo, and Kim Woo-bin; released November 14, 2013, it drew 2,971,475 admissions in Korea.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.crime-thriller-mystery.2010-2014-films.crime-films.alpha-symbols-to-l", "markdown": "# Friend 2\n\n**Friend 2** (친구 2; also released as *[Friend](https://www.edgepedia.org/friend-2001-film): The Great Legacy*) is a 2013 South Korean neo-noir action film directed by Kwak Kyung-taek and the sequel to his 2001 gangster hit *Friend*. It stars Yu Oh-seong, Joo Jin-mo, and [Kim Woo-bin](https://www.edgepedia.org/kim-woo-bin), and was released in South Korea on November 14, 2013.[1](https://www.filmmakers.co.kr/movies/en/20137044)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Korean title | 친구 2 (*Chingu 2*); English release titles *Friend 2* and *Friend: The Great Legacy*[1](https://www.filmmakers.co.kr/movies/en/20137044) |\n| Director / writers | Kwak Kyung-taek; screenplay by Kwak Kyung-taek and Han Seung-un[1](https://www.filmmakers.co.kr/movies/en/20137044) |\n| Release | November 14, 2013, South Korea; distributed by Lotte Entertainment[1](https://www.filmmakers.co.kr/movies/en/20137044) |\n| Cast | Yu Oh-seong (Joon-seok), Joo Jin-mo (Lee Cheol-ju), Kim Woo-bin (Sung-hoon)[2](https://cine21.com/movie/info/?movie_id=39087) |\n| Rating | Restricted (18+) from the Korea Media Rating Board[1](https://www.filmmakers.co.kr/movies/en/20137044) |\n| Box office | 2,971,475 admissions on 968 screens in South Korea[3](https://koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20137044) |\n| Festival | Special Screening, Osaka Asian Film Festival 2014[3](https://koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20137044) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Plot\n\nThe film continues the story of the 2001 original. Joon-seok (Yu Oh-seong), imprisoned for ordering the death of his childhood friend Dong-soo, is released after 17 years and finds the world changed and a new figure, Eun-gi, risen to real power in the organization. To reclaim the syndicate his father Cheol-ju (Joo Jin-mo) built, he gathers his scattered forces and takes Sung-hoon (Kim Woo-bin), a young inmate who looks up to him like a father, as his right hand. Sung-hoon, who grew up without knowing his father's face, is in fact Dong-soo's son; when he learns of Joon-seok's connection to his father's death, their alliance collapses.[2](https://cine21.com/movie/info/?movie_id=39087) • [4](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?cdKind=014001&indexChar=A&mode=INDEX_PEOPLE_VIEW&movieCd=20137044&newsRownum=3&pageIndex=1&peopleCd=10057492&photoRownum=7&photoSeq=9&strMenuId=010402)\n\nThe narrative moves across three generations and two time periods, with flashbacks to the 1960s showing the rise of Joon-seok's father as a gangster alongside the present-day power struggle.[5](https://koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/news/news.jsp?blbdComCd=601006&mode=VIEW&seq=2476) • [6](https://www.villagevoice.com/gangster-sequel-friend-2-the-legacy-is-all-business/)\n\n## Production\n\nKwak Kyung-taek began shooting the sequel in May 2013, twelve years after the original, with the first footage taken at Yeongdeungpo Prison on May 6, 2013. Yu Oh-seong reprised his role as Joon-seok, Joo Jin-mo, a Kwak regular, played Lee Cheol-ju, and the then-newcomer Kim Woo-bin, already known from television dramas such as *School 2013* and *The Heirs*, was cast as Sung-hoon, the hidden son of [Jang Dong-gun](https://www.edgepedia.org/jang-dong-gun)'s character Dong-soo from the first film.[5](https://koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/news/news.jsp?blbdComCd=601006&mode=VIEW&seq=2476) • [7](https://m.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/news/reports.jsp?blbdComCd=601008&firstMenuNumber=3&mode=VIEW&pageRowSize=10&seq=264) Filming took place roughly half in Ulsan, with the rest in Busan and other locations.[8](https://www.kookje.co.kr/news2011/asp/newsbody.asp?code=0500&key=20131011.22014213207)\n\nKwak said he had turned down earlier sequel offers because he had no story he wanted to tell, and began writing after the idea came to him while traveling to Busan in 2012. He deliberately avoided trying to manufacture catchphrases to match the original's famous lines.[9](https://www.kookje.co.kr/news2011/asp/newsbody.asp?code=0500&key=20130111.99002110625) • [10](https://www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR20131109055400051)\n\n## Box office\n\nThe film opened on November 14, 2013 with 304,189 admissions on its first day and 45 percent of early reservations, and topped the Korean box office in its first weekend with 1.06 million admissions, beating *Thor: The Dark World* and the Korean thriller *The Five* despite the Restricted rating from the Korea Media Rating Board. Its cumulative total reached 1.77 million admissions within the first two weeks.[11](https://koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/news/news.jsp?blbdComCd=601006&mode=VIEW&seq=2768) • [7](https://m.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/news/reports.jsp?blbdComCd=601008&firstMenuNumber=3&mode=VIEW&pageRowSize=10&seq=264) It held first place in its second weekend with 472,872 admissions, bringing its cumulative total past 17.2 billion won according to the Korean Film Council.[12](https://www.koreajoongangdaily.com/korea/friend-sequel-beats-new-hunger-games/10806777)\n\nFinal Korean figures recorded 2,971,475 admissions on 968 screens.[3](https://koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20137044) [Box Office Mojo](https://www.edgepedia.org/box-office-mojo) lists a worldwide gross of $20,502,243, all from international (non-US) markets, while KOFIC's database records a total gross of about $16.2 million for South Korea; the two trackers differ in scope and currency conversion.[13](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt3264494/) • [3](https://koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20137044)\n\nDuring the November 2013 American Film Market, distributor Lotte Entertainment announced sales to the United States (Dreamwest), Japan (Nikkatsu), and Taiwan (AV-Jet), with a planned North American release on 20 screens in December.[11](https://koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/news/news.jsp?blbdComCd=601006&mode=VIEW&seq=2768)\n\n## Reception\n\nWestern critics were cool. The Los Angeles Times gave the film 30 on Metacritic, finding little parallelism in the crosscutting between 1963 and 2010; the Village Voice gave 40, calling the three-strand plot a structural device borrowed from *The Godfather Part II*; and The New York Times gave 50, noting an \"overly generous heaping of styles.\"[14](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/friend-2-the-legacy/critic-reviews/) On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 33 percent Tomatometer from six reviews and a 56 percent audience score.[15](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/friend_2_the_legacy) Reviewers repeatedly measured it against the original: ScreenAnarchy's Pierce Conran wrote that it shares little with its predecessor beyond the Busan dialect, and judged it a step below the recent Korean gangster films *Nameless Gangster* and *New World*.[16](https://screenanarchy.com/2013/12/review-friend-2-shares-little-with-its-predecessor.html)\n\nThe film was invited to the Osaka Asian Film Festival in 2014 as a special screening and was associated with the Blue Dragon Awards in 2014.[3](https://koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20137044)\n\n## Context in Kwak Kyung-taek's career\n\nThe original *Friend* (2001) drew 8.2 million admissions and, at the time of release, replaced *Shiri* (1999) as the most successful Korean film ever; it remains the record holder among films rated unsuitable for minors.[7](https://m.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/news/reports.jsp?blbdComCd=601008&firstMenuNumber=3&mode=VIEW&pageRowSize=10&seq=264) • [10](https://www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR20131109055400051) *Friend 2* was Kwak's eleventh feature, made after a run of action films and dramas including *Mutt Boy* (2003), *Typhoon* (2005), and *Love* (2007), and it returned to material partly drawn from his own youth in Busan.[17](https://www.koreafilm.co.kr/movie/friend2/friend2_2.htm) • [18](https://koreanfilm.or.kr/webzine/sub/newfilms.jsp?mode=A_VIEW&wbSeq=112) Kwak said he had no plans for a third installment, though he expressed interest in a possible retro prequel about the Cheol-ju era if the right offer came.[10](https://www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR20131109055400051)\n\n## References\n\n1. [Friend : The Great Legacy (친구 2), Filmmakers film database](https://www.filmmakers.co.kr/movies/en/20137044)\n2. [친구 2 (Friend : The Great Legacy), Cine21](https://cine21.com/movie/info/?movie_id=39087)\n3. [Friend : The Great Legacy (2013), KOFIC Korean Film Database](https://koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20137044)\n4. [Friend : The Great Legacy (2013), KOFIC film page with synopsis](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?cdKind=014001&indexChar=A&mode=INDEX_PEOPLE_VIEW&movieCd=20137044&newsRownum=3&pageIndex=1&peopleCd=10057492&photoRownum=7&photoSeq=9&strMenuId=010402)\n5. [Shooting of FRIEND 2 Begins, Korean Film Council (May 13, 2013)](https://koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/news/news.jsp?blbdComCd=601006&mode=VIEW&seq=2476)\n6. [Gangster Sequel Friend 2: The Legacy Is All Business, The Village Voice](https://www.villagevoice.com/gangster-sequel-friend-2-the-legacy-is-all-business/)\n7. [Box Office: November 7–20, 2013, KOFIC (Nov 25, 2013)](https://m.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/news/reports.jsp?blbdComCd=601008&firstMenuNumber=3&mode=VIEW&pageRowSize=10&seq=264)\n8. ['친구2' 곽경택-유오성, 관객과의 만남, Kookje News (Oct 10, 2013)](https://www.kookje.co.kr/news2011/asp/newsbody.asp?code=0500&key=20131011.22014213207)\n9. ['친구2' 곽경택 감독 인터뷰, Kookje News (Jan 11, 2013)](https://www.kookje.co.kr/news2011/asp/newsbody.asp?code=0500&key=20130111.99002110625)\n10. [곽경택 감독 \"고3 수험생 심정으로 '친구2' 만들어\", Yonhap News (Nov 10, 2013)](https://www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR20131109055400051)\n11. [FRIEND 2 Scores Overseas Sales, KOFIC (Nov 15, 2013)](https://koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/news/news.jsp?blbdComCd=601006&mode=VIEW&seq=2768)\n12. ['Friend' sequel beats new 'Hunger Games', Korea JoongAng Daily](https://www.koreajoongangdaily.com/korea/friend-sequel-beats-new-hunger-games/10806777)\n13. [Friend 2 (2013), Box Office Mojo](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt3264494/)\n14. [Friend 2: The Legacy critic reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/friend-2-the-legacy/critic-reviews/)\n15. [Chingu 2, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/friend_2_the_legacy)\n16. [Review: FRIEND 2 Shares Little With Its Predecessor, ScreenAnarchy (Dec 2, 2013)](https://screenanarchy.com/2013/12/review-friend-2-shares-little-with-its-predecessor.html)\n17. [친구2 production notes, Korea Film](https://www.koreafilm.co.kr/movie/friend2/friend2_2.htm)\n18. [Friend 2, Korean Cinema Today Vol. 62 (Pierce Conran, Oct 31, 2013)](https://koreanfilm.or.kr/webzine/sub/newfilms.jsp?mode=A_VIEW&wbSeq=112)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Crime, thriller, and mystery films (individual works) › 2010–2014 films › Titles symbols to L*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/friend-2", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/friend-2.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Friend 2\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/friend-2. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Friend 2](https://www.edgepedia.org/friend-2)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/friend-2](https://www.edgepedia.org/friend-2). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Friend 2\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/friend-2. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Friend 2 is Kwak Kyung-taek's 2013 South Korean neo-noir action sequel to Friend, starring Yu Oh-seong, Joo Jin-mo, and Kim Woo-bin; released November 14, 2013, it drew 2,971,475 admissions in Korea." }