JO PIL-HO: THE DAWNING RAGE

Korea, 2019, 127 minutes, Colour.
Sun-kyun Lee, So-nee Jeon.
Directed by Jeon-beom Lee.

The original Korean title was Bad Police.

This is a typical Korean violent police thriller, highlighting business corruption. It has a great deal of action, from bank robberies, to exploding factories, to violent torture.

The central character is a corrupt policeman, organising the robbing of banks with a colleague, stashing his money, planning the robbery of a factory – but it explodes, killing his companion. While he is still on the force, he is involved in the investigation about the fire.

Jo Pil-ho is not a particularly sympathetic character, initially smug and cruel, depending on his wife for support, somewhat cynical in his action and investigation. However, as the film proceeds, he becomes more sympathetic, finding a young girl who has stolen his money in order to get finance for a friends surgery. He is also pursued by the henchmen of the corporate boss as well is his corrupt lawyer.

This leads to a lot of confrontations, chases, fights. Eventually, the policeman befriends the young girl (who has a very loud and confrontative mouth), leading back to her taking the money, his supporting her against the torture and interrogations, her insulting her captors and then leaping to her death.

The policeman also falls from the building, but recovers, makes a 3-D printed gun, goes to the headquarters of the corrupt boss, confronting him. The boss then is to make an address about his philanthropy to education. The policeman is almost killed several times but uses his wits, especially when he is covered in tub filled with water but managed to extricate the plug and survive. Eventually, he kills the lawyer, goes on stage and kills the boss while he himself is shot.

The final scene shows him surviving and remembering the young girl.