‘I, the Executioner’ Review: A Korean Serial-Killer-Action-Comedy

“I, the Executioner,” Ryoo Seung-wan‘s sequel to his 2015 action-comedy “Veteran,” scales back on its predecessor’s laughs in order to focus more closely on — as well as to examine — the violence of its police protagonists. Although undoubtedly entertaining, Ryoo’s follow-up is also highly introspective, weaving a serial killer mystery that makes for a surprising mirror to the series’ lead.

Roguish detective Seo Do-cheol (Hwang Jung-min) returns in a dynamic blast of an opening salvo, as the camera weaves in and out of (and above) an illicit casino, as a police sting operation unfolds. Amusing action soon ensues, reminiscent of the first film’s zesty, high-impact sequences, and with its central conceit in tow: Seo and his returning, idiosyncratic team are either hyper-competent or bumbling fools, depending on what the script demands. Sometimes, they’re both these things at once, as the film’s prologue provides a dose of the familiar.

The rest is a fairly stark departure from “Veteran,” whose class-centric themes merely buoyed the movie’s fireworks (its central plot didn’t kick in until roughly the 45-minute mark). “I, the Executioner,” on the other hand, zeroes in on the very idea of justice early on, with a grisly murder motivated by revenge. Although released as “Veteran 2” in South Korea, its Western title is borrowed from that of Tai Kato’s 1968 Japanese neo-noir thriller, “I, the Executioner,” in which the police investigate a series of vigilante killings of criminal perpetrators. This broad premise is all Tai and Ryoo’s movies have in common, but the infiltration of an entirely new, increasingly gloomy tone — compared to the otherwise jovial first “Veteran” — is immediately palpable, and distinctly purposeful.

As more vigilante murders come to light, targeting criminals who slipped through the system’s cracks, online influencers dub the film’s secret avenging angel “Haechi,” after the mythical lion-esque creature in Chinese and Korean folklore that judges sinful people. However, these killings are barely a step removed from Seo’s own violence, which skirts around the rule of law, and has formed the foundation of the police action genre for decades the world over (as in “Dirty Harry,” for example). To introduce a villain that so overtly reflects its heroes’ flaws is nothing short of a comic-book-superhero flourish, which is fitting, given how much Ryoo’s seedy vision of metropolitan South Korea this time around resembles the gaudy depths of Gotham City.

“I, the Executioner” also plays skillfully with red herrings, introducing a new rookie cop, Park Sun-woo (Jung Hae-in), among its central cast, whose fanboy-ish obsession with Seo is, at best, mildly unsettling. Dubbed the “UFC policeman” online for his aggressive takedowns, Park appears to have learned all the wrong lessons from Seo’s antics, and as the movie hints toward his potential involvement with Haechi, this dichotomy grows more intriguing. The film keeps zigging and zagging when it comes to its killer’s identity, but it never wavers when it comes to framing Park as Seo’s disturbing shadow, making the antihero detective reconsider his methods, while simultaneously dealing with complications on the family front.

Unfortunately, despite twisting its many screws, the film’s final act can’t quite sustain its lofty themes, and instead defaults to an almost “Saw”-like premise that doesn’t quite gel with its killer’s established motives. However, it’s also here that the series’ signature comedic action returns to the fore. “I, the Executioner” has no shortage of intense action — one rooftop fight in the rain is particularly ingenious, with characters slipping and sliding their way through close-quarters combat — but its intimate climactic scenes bring the movie full-circle after its many dour detours, as Ryoo reaches back into his slapstick toolbox, and does what he does best.