I, THE EXECUTIONER (베테랑2) (2024)

Genre: Action/Crime
Director: Ryoo Seung-wan
Cast: Hwang Jung-min, Jung Hae-in, Jang Yoon-ju, Jin Kyung
Runtime: 1 hr 58 mins
Rating: NC16 (Some Coarse Language and Violence)
Released By: Warner Bros
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 31 October 2024

Synopsis: Detective Seo Do-cheol (HWANG Jung-min) and his Major Crime Investigation Division tirelessly track down criminals day and night, often at the expense of their personal lives. When the murder of a professor reveals links to past cases, suspicions of a serial killer arise, plunging the country into turmoil. As Major Crimes delves into the investigation, the killer taunts them by publicly releasing a teaser online, indicating the next victim, and intensifying the chaos. To tackle the escalating threat, the team brings in idealistic rookie officer Park Sun-woo (JUNG Hae-in), leading to unexpected twists in the case's trajectory.

Movie Review:

Almost a decade after his 2015 blockbuster action-comedy, Ryoo Seung-wan returns with a sequel to his crowd-pleasing ‘Veteran’ that is not quite what you might be expecting. Instead of more of the same, Ryoo dials down the original’s often jokey humour in favour of a more introspective – and we might say, more compelling – thriller which examines the destructive consequences of violence, especially in the hands of the self-righteously deluded.

That is with reference to the vigilante killer whom Internet influencers dub ‘Haechi’, named after the mythical lion-esque creature in Chinese and Korean folklore that judges sinful people. One of Haechi’s earliest victims is a college professor who had sexually assaulted one of his female students, but was subsequently acquitted by the Courts; worse still, he had framed her for being a gold-digger, leading her to commit suicide after being disgraced. Not only does Haechi decide to enact sweet vengeance by killing the professor in the same way his ex-student died, he also posts the entire killing to garner public support for his supposedly righteous actions.

The hunt for Haechi falls to Do-cheol (Hwang Jung-min), whose own penchant for violence makes Haechi a perfect foil that will force Do-cheol to reflect on his own methods later on. In addition to his previous team – which includes team leader Oh (Oh Dal-su) – Do-cheol is joined on his latest mission by an ambitious rookie Sun-woo (Jung Hae-in), who is enamoured with Do-cheol’s unrestrained routines. That Sun-woo is dubbed the ‘UFC policeman’ for his aggressive MMA-styled takedowns should be sufficient hint that there is more to him than meets the eye.

Though it is only in the last third that Ryoo confirms Haechi’s identity, it should come as no surprise that Haechi is indeed much closer to Do-cheol than he had imagined. The fact that we remain engaged from start to finish – despite being able to guess quite early on just who Haechi is – is credit to Ryoo’s tight scripting, that keeps the pace breathless by having Do-cheol and his team race against time to protect Haechi’s next victim, while contending with a pesky Youtube commentator who dubs himself Editor Justice.

Ryoo also throws in a personal angle to Do-cheol this time round, with his son being accused of being a bully at school; and while that addition may seem distracting at first, it becomes a surprisingly relevant and poignant subplot in the film’s nail-biting climax. Besides Do-cheol’s son, the rest of the supporting characters also come together in unexpected ways in that climax, which further reinforces why vigilantism should never be encouraged and why murder is simply murder (without ever being a difference between “something like a right murder and a wrong murder”).

Even as he weaves in a rich dose of social commentary, Ryoo offers plenty of intense action laced with slapstick to satisfy fans of his original. From the opening fight scene, to an intense foot chase at a Christmas pageant, to a rain-soaked rooftop battle, and to the finale set within an abandoned highway tunnel, Ryoo shows he has not lost his penchant for tightly executed set-pieces that emphasise the crudeness of hand-to-hand combat without ever feeling over-orchestrated. It is also to Ryoo’s credit that the moments of levity as the characters slip and fall amidst their fights never comes across contrived, but simply part of the rough and tumble of real-life brawls.

So even though ‘I, The Executioner’ is of a different mould from its predecessor, Ryoo’s change in tone and style is ultimately an inspired one. While it may be less crowd-pleasingly entertaining than ‘Veteran’, this sequel proves to be a brainier follow-up that has a lot more than just being an irreverent mix of comedy and cop procedural; instead, in this day and age where public opinion is shaped too easily by online influencers, it warns against the dangers of populism, especially where violence and even murder are involved – and by that measure, it is a smart and satisfying movie that deserves its title to stand on its own right.

Movie Rating:

(Not quite the irreverent blend of comedy and cop procedural you might have been expecting, this sequel to 'Veteran' is a surprisingly clever dose of social commentary, wrapped in a twisty plot, lots of intense action and some good old-fashioned slapstick)

Review by Gabriel Chong