by Joseph Davis, Contributing Writer
Sometimes when writing for this series I like to pull up the foreign language section of a streaming app and take a look through it to see if I can find a movie that piques my interest. Starting at the beginning of January, I looked at Tubi, and stumbled upon a South Korean film called A Violent Prosecutor. Reading the synopsis, it sounded like it was part crime thriller, part political thriller. Usually when I see one of these on their own, I know I will at least be entertained, but a combination of the two? Now you have my attention.
The first thing I want to discuss is the cast. I honestly think they are doing some amazing work here. Hwang Jung-min, who plays our title character, prosecutor Byun Jae-wook, at first carries an air of arrogance with him as a prosecutor who uses any means, including violent ones, to take down criminals. However, after he is convicted of a crime he did not commit, he becomes more humble, as well as more calculating. He starts out violent, but becomes more subtle and willing to build a case using skullduggery as he works his case and tries to bring the corrupt officials, including his former boss, down for the crime. Alongside him, we have Gang Dong-won as fraudster Chi-won. This guy is honestly an unlikely hero, someone who cheats his way through life with little care outside of himself. It’s a very unlikely pairing, but in a way this odd couple works well. You have someone who has the legal knowledge to figure out how to bring down the bad guys, while also someone with the criminal knowledge to find the evidence that is needed. It’s an uneasy alliance, because if things go wrong, then both our heroes are in deep trouble, but they both desperately rely on the other. Conversely, the antagonists of this story is Woo Jong-gil (Lee Sung-min), a corrupt politician and former prosecutor who works with the criminal underworld to further his own political goals. Meanwhile, this is all caught up with prosecutor Min-woo (Park Sung-wong), someone who dreams of winning the big case, but is also an appeaser who falls in line. All the different characters here — both those who try to free Byun and those who wish to stop him — makes for a very interesting tale.
One thing that some courtroom dramas have issues with, along with some criminal mastermind movies, is that they often have moments where they feel bogged down with unnecessary scenes. This movie doesn’t have that. Sure, there are scenes that feel at the time like they are unnecessary, but then later, you realize that it is very much necessary, as it threatens to unravel Byun’s plans. It all melds together nearly perfectly, and makes this movie feel like it goes past in relatively short order. It makes it far more entertaining as you want to see how the ending plays out, and as you wonder if they will end up succeeding in the end. It makes the payoff far more rewarding in the end. It also leaves very few moments where you can find a plot hole, which really ties this one together in the end. Even by the climax, the film has set things up perfectly to where oftentimes you might wonder why someone is making a choice, but because the setup was done so well, you can easily pinpoint the moment in the film a character made the decision to act how they do.
The last thing I want to discuss is the camera work. I love what they’re doing here. Every scene feels deliberate and well paced, and nothing ever feels out of focus. The cinematographer, Choi Chan-min, really knew what he was doing in this movie, focusing on exactly what the viewer needed to focus on. Granted, I do appreciate it when a movie decides to include a few “blink and you miss it” moments, but that does not detract from this movie; in fact, it almost elevates it for me. You don’t have to worry about missing any details, because the details you need to know are presented directly in front of you. For that alone I can’t help but feel enraptured by what’s on screen.
Overall, I gotta say I cannot recommend A Violent Prosecutor enough to anyone here in the states. It’s a fun story, and it really just hits where it needed to hit for me. Sure, there are some things I would have liked to see a little differently, but they do not detract from the product. Please go watch this movie, because in my mind, it deserves far more than I think it got here in the American market.
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