Film

Veteran

Name: Veteran
Genre: Action, Crime, Comedy, Thriller
Released: 2015
Cast: Hwang Jung-min, Yoo Ah-in, Yoo Hai-jin, Oh Dal-su, Jang Yoon-ju

Crime

A seasoned Seoul detective pursues a reckless corporate heir who mows down his partner and disappears behind wealth and privilege. Veteran is a furious, perfectly calibrated thriller—brutal action and gallows comedy locked in a dance with institutional rot. For anyone who loves crime stories about the gap between guilt and justice.

TMDb rating

3.5

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy a crime thriller where the pleasure comes from a seasoned cop's sly, unhurried cunning and a rich-kid villain who is more irritating than frightening, with a streak of dry comedy running through the tension.

Skip it if you want a tightly plotted, sober procedural; this one leans on broad, cartoonish characters and loud set pieces, and its humour can undercut the suspense you came for.

What it asks of you: Settle in for a full two hours, roughly two minutes past the two-hour mark, with stretches of brisk action and playful banter that shift the mood often rather than building one steady dread.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Assassination Classroom2015

A Korean thriller equally invested in character and spectacle. Features a similar blend of propulsive action, moral ambiguity, and the collision between individual will and historical forces. Tremendously entertaining.

But The plot moves through multiple timelines and allegiances, which can feel scattered if you're not tracking it closely. Subtitles required.

The Outlaws2017

Another Korean crime film about cop versus criminal, but this one strips away the corporate structure and puts a detective face-to-face with a brutal gang boss. Same director, same gift for kinetic action and wry comedy in dark places.

But More relentlessly violent than Veteran. Less interested in systemic critique, more interested in raw human collision.

Memories of Murder2003

The gold standard of Korean crime cinema. A detective hunts a serial killer across a region, and the investigation becomes a study of how institutions fail, how power corrupts, how the wrong man can hang. Masterful filmmaking.

But Slower and more meditative than Veteran. No action set-pieces, just the grinding weight of procedure and doubt. Demands patience.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Veteran

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Mississippi Burning1988

Both films are about characters unable to cross a class barrier to reach their target. Veteran solves this with a fist; Burning suggests it cannot be solved, only burned inside.

A young writer suspects a wealthy man of murder but cannot prove it. Class anxiety, artistic failure, and the unbridgeable distance between suspicion and justice. Slow, philosophical, and absolutely consumed by the question Veteran resolves with violence.

But Long (2h 28m), meditative to the point of immobility, and deliberately unresolved. It will frustrate you if you want answers.

The Chaser2008

A former cop turned pimp hunts a serial killer—a pursuit that's personal, transgressive, and thrillingly desperate. Korean thriller about obsession and the blur between hunter and hunted. Visceral and tight.

But Deeply unpleasant subject matter. The violence is graphic and the moral ground unstable. Not cathartic.

Nightcrawler2014

An American equivalent: a morally bankrupt protagonist climbing over bodies to escape nothing. Like Veteran, it's a dark comedy about ambition and the systems that reward ruthlessness. Gyllenhaal is magnetic.

But The pace is deliberately slow-burn. The protagonist is repellent in ways that can feel gratuitous. You won't enjoy him.

Brawl in Cell Block 992017

A direct, muscular thriller about a man moving through systemic violence to get what he needs. Long, brutal fight sequences and a taciturn hero. Uncompromising and oddly moving.

But Extremely violent. Minimal plot, maximum punishment. The pacing is deliberate to the point of being austere.

The General's Daughter1999

A cop investigates the murder of an Army officer's daughter and finds institutional corruption runs deeper than any one crime. Military thriller with a similar interest in how power protects itself.

But Aged poorly in some ways. The sexual politics feel of their time. The plot twists are baroque and sometimes clunky.

Stoker2013

A wealthy outsider enters a family and upends everything. Park Chan-wook's English-language debut: gorgeous, menacing, structured like a trap. If you want Korean sensibility applied to American gothic.

But It's glacially paced and deeply strange. The narrative is subordinate to mood and image. Some will find it pretentious or cold.

Traffik2018

A couple on vacation stumbles into human trafficking and institutional indifference. An action thriller about ordinary people versus systems designed to protect the powerful. Urgent and tight.

But Uncomfortably topical. The violence is directed at vulnerable people. Not particularly original in its execution.

Bodyguard2018

Both are obsessed with institutional protection of the guilty and the individual officer left to question what the system is actually for.

A British miniseries about a decorated soldier assigned to protect a controversial politician. Taut, paranoid, and consumed with whether institutions exist to serve justice or to protect their own. Six episodes of escalating moral vertigo.

But The final episode divided audiences; many felt it compromised the preceding five hours. Pacing is slow by contemporary standards. UK television, so less kinetic than Korean cinema.

Wrath of Man2021

Both feature veteran operatives (cop, thief) using competence and leverage against people whose privilege they're tired of forgiving. Both are essentially about the quiet rage of the capable.

Guy Ritchie's austere action film about a quiet, capable man entering a corrupt operation. A heist thriller told in fragments, revealing that its protagonist is righteously motivated by hidden loss. Lean, cold, and propulsive.

But The structure is deliberately obscure; you'll miss things on first viewing. Ritchie's style can feel gimmicky. It's less interested in character than in plot machinery.