The Couchpotatoes I saw already some very good Korean movies but this one isn't one of them. Even though it's all nicely shot and you can clearly see they had a budget for this movie it's still not a great movie. Maybe it's the Korean language, that sounds like they are always really angry when they speak. It's just an awful language if you ask me. I speak four different languages myself and none of them sounds that angry all the time. Add on that that the majority of the actors in Veteran are not that good and you get quickly bored. At least I was, the end couldn't come quick enough. In other circumstances Veteran could have been better. By that I mean if it was in English for example, with better actors, and with more realistic action scenes. Now it's a typical Korean action movie, one that I'm not a fan of.

tenshi_ippikiookami Seo Do-cheol is your typical detective in South Korean movies: violent, hypermasculine, more than willing to break a couple of heads. In his work he gets to know driver Bae. When Bae ends up in the hospital after attempting to commit suicide, Seo Do-cheol decides to investigate the reasons behind the act. Pretty soon his path crosses the one of rich young man Jo Tae-oh, who will not be very happy about Seo Do-cheol's intrusion in his daily life."Veteran" centers on the showdown between the detective and the rich kid, in a not very subtle critic of the heirs of big businesses that believe that everyone has to obey them and that they live in a world where rules don't apply to them. This could do for lots of fun. However, the movie just doesn't have much energy, and not much originality, either. This is caused, in part, by the rhythm. The movie is overlong and the pace suffers from it, scenes becoming stretched too thin and making the viewer disconnect with the proceedings. It doesn't help either that the action direction is flat, with little flash, even if, on a positive side, they have some good sense of humor."Veteran" ends being an average action-comedy movie, with your run- of-the-mill detective-vs-the-rich plot.

cristina-679-5038 I rarely watch Asian movies, I made an exception for this one because I liked the description and the poster. I didn't regret watching it. The way the drama/comedy/detective/action is combined is truly amazing. It made me cry a little, laugh a lot, smile and be sad trough the movie. The detective's perseverance and the limits that he pushes makes it a wonderful story. I liked that we get to see a bad ass woman detective in a secondary role that we rarely see in Hollywood, (a thing that is something normal in Asian movies). Also, the fact that the main character was not a martial arts master is a big plus. A truly inspiring family and friends relationships between characters and real life situations is what makes this movie almost a masterpiece. The level of the actors, their playing deserves and Oscar or at least some international appreciation.

parknourie With a summer filled with less than mediocre domestic films busting blocks in box office we get a quality entertainment from director Ryu Seung-Wan. This is not an entirely original film but Ryu packs it with enough real life relevance and intrigue in the plot to keep the audience thoroughly entertained.The plot which has the same structure as "The Public Enemy" series, very popular and also from Korea, follows a hardboiled cop trying to take down a psychotic rich kid after his acquaintance ends up in hospital. Both parties do what they do best. One follows leads and the other does whatever it takes cover it up.As mentioned above, the film's action scenes and its general tone (comic reliefs, charismatic yet evil rich baddies) are very similar to Public Enemy series. However the story is more focused here with director Ryu's confidence in his own style.The entire cast turns in solid performances but the standout is Ah In Yoo, making a real nasty playboy who can convincingly smirk and get under your skin. Also worth mentioning is Hae Jin Yoo who's presence in a film almost always indicate solid performances. He plays a man who needs to juggle around running the company and keeping the young maniac under control. In its final action sequence, fans of Korean cinema will chuckle at a familiar face making a goofy cameo.So far Ryu hasn't made a single film that wasn't worth the admission price. Sure, his film can come off cheesy at times but they were never boring. Ryu's style can also compensate for not entirely original plots in films like "Veteran" and "Berlin Files". A great success in box office, this film will pretty much guarantee the director to make any film he wants to make next. Anything he makes, I'll be first in line.