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Choi (Choi Woo-sik) is a straight-as-an-arrow rookie cop and honest to
a default - which is when he tells on his partner after a minor
infraction, he attracts the attention of Hwang (Park Hee-soon), head of
Internal Affairs. Now Internal Affairs has had their tabs on seasoned cop
Park (Cho Jin-woong) for a while now - and thus, Choi is soon made a part
of Park's team, and Park takes pretty much an immediate liking to Choi as
Choi's father was his mentor. Now Park and his team investigate in the
affairs of crime kingpin Na (Kwon Yul), and one thing's for sure, Park
sure is unconventional in his methods, which includes lending money from a
loan shark certain assignments, plus he's sponsored by a group of elite
businessmen - but none of this is actually illegal, and mostly over the
table. And Choi writes as much in his report, and yet Park's home is
eventually raided by Internal Affairs, and it doesn't take Park's team
long to figure that Choi was the snitch. However, Park is acquitted, and
even though he knows Choi is working for Internal Affairs now he keeps him
on, but demands a sort of pledge of allegiance - and that's badly needed,
too, as now he goes after Na's organisation full blast, and to succeed has
even asked for the support of Na's arch rival Cha (Park Myeong-hoon) as
well as the yakuza for support - something that's a bit of a suicide
mission, even without Internal Affairs on one's tail ... A very
powerful cop thriller that granted might at first glance seem a bit taxing
in terms of the complexity of its plot. But overall it really succeeds in
bringing its core narrative of a cop torn between two rights that might
make a wrong across very nicely, thanks to finding the right balance
between violent outbursts, exciting setpieces but also quieter moments,
but also to well-fleshed out characters that remain relatable throughout
(even if their actions become debatable over the course of the movie), and
of course a strong cast only helps making this one very cool piece of
genre cinema.
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