After a nine-year wait, Korean cinema master Ryoo Seung-wan has finally delivered a sequel to his 2015 blockbuster cop thriller Veteran. The highly-anticipated I, The Executioner (also known as Veteran 2) made its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on May 20th, screening in the prestigious Midnight Screenings section dedicated to accomplished genre filmmaking.
Reuniting the original’s wildly entertaining ensemble cast led by Hwang Jung-min, the new film deconstructs the usual moral certainties of the action movie while still delivering all the breathtaking set pieces Ryoo’s fans have come to expect. Veteran actor Hwang reprises his role as the infectiously gruff detective Seo Do-cheol, this time tasked with hunting a rumored serial killer targeting criminals. Rising star Jung Hae-in joins as a mysterious rookie cop assigned to the case.
In a recent interview, Ryoo outlined his ambitious vision for transcending the first Veteran’s more conventional premise of taking down a corrupt, wealthy villain. “For most action films, you have a protagonist and an antagonist who need to face off,” the 50-year-old filmmaker explained. “But this time, I decided to switch it up. Usually the action hero pursues a clear sense of justice the audience roots for. But here, I posed two different definitions of justice that clash.”
The “antagonist” is deliberately rendered as an ambiguous, opaque figure in I, The Executioner. Rather than a typical evil villain, Ryoo simply portrays him as a man with very different convictions than the protagonist’s – leaving audiences to ponder his motivations and whether he can be deemed evil at all.
“I didn’t think of him as the villain,” Ryoo clarified. “The way this film treats evil makes it more horrendous because we don’t provide a clear ‘Axis of Evil’…it’s closer to how evil currently exists in society.”
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On the flip side, the heroic detective Seo – that lovable, rough-around-the-edges archetype from the first movie – has been rendered far more flawed and human in the sequel. He struggles as an inattentive husband and father, his violent actions to uphold justice ultimately hurting himself and those closest to him.
“Your protagonist just has to make mistakes,” Ryoo said, recounting advice he once received from the great Hong Kong filmmaker Johnnie To. “In that sense, you could say the most powerful villain is the hero detective himself…when he’s fighting the antagonist, he’s fighting himself.”
While not shying away from deconstructing traditional cop thriller tropes, Ryoo has assured fans that I, The Executioner still delivers a kinetic, white-knuckle thrill ride packed with wildly entertaining action set pieces and gallows humor from the first film’s ensemble cast.
“I wanted to make sure audiences feel like they’re seeing these types of action scenes for the first time,” he teased. Social satire is also baked into the premise, with online influencers shamelessly streaming footage from crime scenes in pursuit of clicks and follows.
Reviews out of Cannes have been unanimously positive so far. Many critics are praising the film as both a wildly entertaining popcorn flick and a morally complex examination of justice, evil and truth in the modern era.
If this daring deconstruction of the cop movie proves a hit, Ryoo has already begun developing a third chapter in what could become a gripping action saga. He’s currently in talks with the cast about expanding this cinematic universe further.
“Of course, there’s a very important precondition,” Ryoo admitted. “If Veteran 2 flops, none of this will happen. If you want to see a third one, please give this film your support!”
I, The Executioner is due for release in the latter half of 2024 from distributor CJ Entertainment. For hardcore Ryoo fans who have been awaiting this franchise follow-up for nearly a decade, it seems the filmmaking maestro has crafted something refreshingly bold yet true to the kinetic spirit of the original.
