I, The Executioner a satisfying cop drama, family film Bookworm charms

It is serious business after the hijinks of their 2015 South Korean blockbuster caper Veteran. Hard-boiled detective Seo Do-cheol (Hwang Jung-min) and his Violent Crimes Unit in Seoul pursue a serial killer who is taunting them with online clips of his next victim.

- Whang Yee Ling

I, THE EXECUTIONER (NC16) 118 minutes, opens on Oct 31 ★★★★☆

The story:

The crime thriller I, The Executioner – a sequel released domestically as Veteran 2 – has elsewhere adopted the title of Tai Kato’s 1968 Japanese neo-noir along with its vigilante theme.

The psychopath is punishing criminals who evaded the system, executing them in the grisly manner of their misdeeds and causing nationwide chaos. A YouTube channel is quick to profit off the bloodlust by inviting submissions to his hit list. "Is there a good murder and a bad murder?" Do-cheol berates the excited public.

But it is this old-school veteran’s extrajudicial justice in the earlier film, roughing up nasties in his crusade against class inequality, that inspires cherubic rookie patrolman Park Sun-woo (Jung Hae-in) to join the manhunt. What good are Sun-woo’s lethal mixed martial arts skills otherwise?

Director-cum-co-writer Ryoo Seung-wan returns to critique the legacy of violence that is now everywhere: in school bullying, incidents of sexual harassment and internet culture.