I, the Executioner

aka Veteran 2

Story: There is a serial killer out and about in Seoul, but he is celebrated as a hero on social media. The killer, known as "Haechi", makes sure that people get what they deserve when the judicial system fails. Seo Do-cheol (Hwang Jung-min) and his team, led by his superior Jae-pyeong (Oh Dal-su), are tasked with protecting a man they know all too well and who killed a pregnant woman when he pushed her to the ground. Do-cheol wouldn't mind if the man got what he deserved, but doing good police work is even more important to him. Therefore, he does everything he can to protect the man. On his side, there is also the young policeman Park Sun-woo (Jung Hae-in), who is an excellent MMA fighter. While Do-cheol has to deal with the fact that his son is repeatedly involved in fights at school, a former journalist makes his money by presenting Haechi's potential victims in streams, which makes the policeman's case even more difficult. The fact that some of the streamer's information is pretty far-fetched poses an additional problem as it puts innocent people in danger. The police have yet to come any closer to catching the serial killer, but then the streamer announces that Haechi wants to meet with him. As a result, there is a relentless pursuit, in which Sun-woo uses excessive force, so that the supposed Haechi ends up in the hospital. However, the identity of the real killer is a little bit more complicated ...

Review: This action thriller can be watched all by itself without any problems, but some viewers might wonder why a few characters get some small but rather meaningless flashbacks. Well, that's simply because the movie is called "Veteran 2" in Korea. And indeed, most important actors from the first part resume their roles here. And Ryoo Seung-wan is back in the director's chair too. If you want some decent action cinema, he's the right person for you, which has become clear at least since "The City of Violence" or the more recent "Escape from Mogadishu". And yes, he doesn't do much wrong this time either. Occasionally, the action in the fights is surprisingly sophisticated, but there are only a few moments in which it feels like this could have been a martial arts movie too. Most of the time "I, the Executioner" is an action thriller through and through that wants to raise a few moral questions, as was the case with the first part. This time, however, there is a bit more to complain about in this respect, because the director is not able to meet his own demands.

The flick starts off a bit strange, though, because the tone is extremely light-hearted and we are supposed to get the impression that, even when things get dicey, our heroes have no trouble at all doing their normal police work whilst casually spouting out cool remarks. There are plenty of movies like this, but "Veteran 2" does not fall into this category at all! Only the beginning turns out humorous, which might create some false expectations. Soon, we find out about horrible crimes and see corpses at crime scenes. The tone of the movie is more on the gritty side, which is also due to its subject matter. Haechi takes the law into his own hands and gets a lot of support from society as people continuously feel betrayed and ignored by the government and the system. Similar to "Death Note" we can't really root for the antihero, though, as his moral compass points into the wrong direction too often. In the end, he acts very selfishly and stops at nothing when it comes to protecting himself. That's a pity, because the story therefore lacks the gray areas which would have thrown the viewer into a dilemma too. So, the story could have gone a little more in the direction of "Dexter" in order to max out its thought experiment in a more beneficial way.

The decision to show us Haechi's identity more or less right at the beginning is also a bit strange. This way, we never have to wonder or rack our brains about how certain clues fit together. Instead, director Ryoo creates suspense through his pacing and the rather unpredictable villain. To be honest, though, there are enough moments in which we realize how little the story itself manages to captivate us. This also goes hand in hand with the fact that the characters are not written astonishingly well. Everything seems a bit standard, and even Hwang Jung-min can't do much about it. Nevertheless, the most tragic thing is that the police unit is supposed to come across as a real team that has grown together over the years. At least, that's what a certain scene towards the end suggests. But we don't get to see any of that here. Then there's the subplot about Do-cheol's son, which is about bullying at school. It seems thrown into the movie in a very unenthusiastic way and Do-cheol rejecting the issue as it just being part of school life if you fight a little, could nowadays be seen as the opinion of an "old man" who doesn't recognize the problems of today's society (and past societies - or have people really gone soft these days?). But does the director make something out of it? No, instead, the subplot only serves the purpose of bringing a little artificial tension into the finale.

So, after these negative points, what is it that still makes the flick so entertaining? The action, of course. Ryoo Seung-wan unobtrusively manages to pack a bit more "technique" into his movie than would normally be expected, because his antihero is an MMA pro. Which means that there is a lot of grappling, but even though the rest of the police unit is more or less trained in self-defense, we just get to see simple punches etc., with only a few tiny exceptions. The fact that this still looks good is due to Ryoo's direction and sense of aesthetics. Thus, you suddenly find yourself on the rooftop of a high-rise building and the action gets a completely unexpected unique touch because of the puddles which the characters slide through or get thrown into. You almost start to worry that the director might overdo it and add a little too much style, as was common in the 90s and 2000s. But he knows when it's time to stop. Instead, he puts emphasize on hard-hitting action, demonstrating a sense of urgency that often suggests a matter of life and death.

We also get some variety with a parkour scene, which Ryoo once again knows how to capture excellently and which ends surprisingly violently. Ryoo uses a specific image composition a bit too prominently, though, as he often captures distant and close characters in focus at the same time. As already mentioned before, the ending has to be criticized too, as it looks unnecessarily complicated and tries to connect several story lines, one of which seems more like an uninteresting addition to the plot. Do-cheol's decision on how to deal with the villain also seems surprisingly bland, since the story should actually have a morally ambiguous touch. After the credits, a small scene hints at the fact that we could expect a sequel. It is also a pleasant thing that the flick ultimately turns out to be more serious and grittier than you would suspect at first. In the end, "I, the Executioner" is simply a solid action thriller, which has earned the right to be named ahead of many other similar works due to its strong action scenes and its visual imagery.

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