Review | Cannes 2024: I, the Executioner (Veteran 2) movie review – Hwang Jung-min, Jung Hae-in lead superior thriller sequel
- Box office blockbusters too often get lame follow-ups. That’s not the case with Ryoo Seung-wan’s sequel to Veteran. It’s more action-packed and has more to say
- Hwang Jung-min plays hard-boiled detective Do-cheol, whose team, including Jung Hae-in as Sun Woo, is tasked with protecting a paroled thug from a vigilante
4/5 stars
Upping the stakes from the first instalment in nearly every department, I, the Executioner is a crowd-pleasing juggernaut that warns against the perils of populism, takes violence to task – and takes viewers on a white-knuckle roller coaster ride.
Ryoo’s film, which premiered in the Midnight Screenings section at the Cannes Film Festival, begins with a remarkably choreographed sequence featuring bone-crunching fist fights, groin kicks and police officers debating their children’s tuition fees while they pursue crime suspects.
Leading the charge through the mayhem is Do-cheol (Hwang Jung-min), who was last seen battling an amoral multimillionaire in Veteran. This time, the rough-edged detective’s nemesis is Haechi, a self-styled vigilante targeting people who are believed to have got off lightly for their bad deeds.