For his 2010 outing, director Ryoo Seung-wan, who had regularly been called ‘the action kid of Korean cinema’, abandoned much of the ‘hip action’ of his earlier films to produce a far more in-depth, eclectic thriller complete with astutely observed social commentary. The Unjust tells the story of police detective Choi Cheol-gi (Hwang Jung-min) whose reputation is threatened by bribery allegations relating to his family. Approached by his unscrupulous boss, Cheol-gi is promised a promotion if he finds a fall guy for a serial murder case. However, Cheol-gi’s dirty deals are also under investigation by elite prosecutor Joo Yang (Ryoo Seong-bum) who decides to propose some dangerous arrangements of his own.

By Paul Quinn