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[HanCinema's Film Review] "A Violent Prosecutor"

Jae-wook (played by Hwang Jung-min) is "A Violent Prosecutor" who doesn't play by the rules. I mean really, the guy straight up tortures suspects, and locks them in cold rooms overnight hands bound. It's kind of a mixed message considering how the main villain, Jong-gil (played by Lee Sung-min) is an explicitly corrupt public official who eventually makes a run for government. Meanwhile, Chi-won (played by Gang Dong-won) is a petty con artist who, having been caught, ends up striking a deal with Jae-wook to use their powers for good rather than evil.

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But first we have to wait for Jae-wook and Chi-won to actually meet each other. Considering how "A Violent Prosecutor" was billed as a prison buddy comedy, relatively little of the action takes place in a prison and the two lead characters similarly have little screen time together. There is comedy- at least in the solid middle portion of the movie, after the introductions and before the denouement, where Jae-wook and Chi-won hunt for evidence.

With Jae-wook, his main power is being the benevolent gangster overlord of a large group of criminals who he's assisted one way or another over the years. The problem is, Jae-wook can't take down Jong-gil with brute force. The crooked politician has his own private army, with better weapons, so it falls on Chi-won to initiate a more cerebral beatdown. He sweet talks people who aren't as smart as Jae-wook, and are thus susceptible to Jae-wook's schemes.

Those basic character traits form the basis of almost all of the jokes in "A Violent Prosecutor", and the cast is strong enough that these jokes alone are enough to carry the film. Chi-won is a guy you want to slap around on general principle for being an idiot, but he's just so gosh-darn cute. Jae-wook, by contrast, slaps around Chi-won and pretty much every other character, too, and it's equally easy to love him for that uncomfortable viciousness since, compared to Assemblyman Kang, Jae-wook is at least well meaning.

Overall, though, "A Violent Prosecutor" lacks depth. True, writer/director Lee Il-hyeong does obviously attempt to give Jae-wook character development in the form of his final speech, where he apologizes for being so excessively violent. It's a fairly weak apology, though, since it was only by being such "A Violent Prosecutor" in the first place that Jae-wook was able to crack the case. Also observe how, for all his best efforts, Chi-won is really, really bad at trying to be a straight arrow, simply because nearly everything the man says is a stupid pointless lie. Jae-wook at least gives purpose to those lies.

But eh, inconsistent morality in a simple crowd-pleasing high concept genre film? What else is new? Luckily enough Jong-gil is sufficiently antagonistic without being overbearingly so that the strengths of "A Violent Prosecutor" easily outweigh the drama's narrative weaknesses. While nothing about "A Violent Prosecutor" stands out as particularly exceptional, I'd definitely rank it above "Veteran" as far as eat-the-rich cop films go, and that makes the movie pretty good as far as I'm concerned.

Review by William Schwartz

"A Violent Prosecutor" is directed by Lee Il-hyeong and features Hwang Jung-min, Gang Dong-won, Lee Sung-min, Park Sung-woong, Kim Eung-soo and Shin So-yul.

 

Available on DVD and Blu-ray from YESASIA

DVD 2-disc (En Sub)
DVD 2-disc (En Sub)
Blu-ray (Limited Edition) (En Sub)
Blu-ray (Limited Edition) (En Sub)
2DVD Digipack + Special Booklet (Limited Edition) (En Sub)
2DVD Digipack + Special Booklet (Limited Edition) (En Sub)
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