Film review: Veteran is a South Korean thriller with swagger
Hwang Jung-min and Yoo Ah-in face off in sharp-witted crime thriller
A renegade cop takes on the spoilt heir of a family-run conglomerate in Ryoo Seung-wan’s tightly-paced and sharp-witted crime thriller Veteran. Hwang Jung-min and Yoo Ah-in lead an impressive ensemble of familiar faces, while the themes of endemic corruption and cronyism in Korean big business strike a poignant chord.
When the apparent suicide of a truck driver is traced back to the upper echelons of umbrella corporation Sunjin Group, Detective Seo Do-cheol (Hwang) suspects foul play and soon discovers that the company’s young heir, Jo Tae-oh (Yoo), is a vile sadist who abuses his power and influence for his own personal, twisted amusement.
While, on the surface, Veteran may resemble dozens of other recent South Korean thrillers, overflowing as it is with testosterone, misogyny and casual violence, Ryoo imbues his film with a style and swagger all its own.
