Veteran (2015 film)

Seo Do-cheol is a merciless police detective, who investigates the suicide of a truck driver named Bae, where he learns from Bae's son that Jo Tae-oh, the sadistic third-generation heir to powerful conglomerate Sinjin Group has assaulted Bae as the latter protested against the conglomerate for back payment. Do-cheol personally begins the investigation, which enrages Tae-oh. Later, Tae-oh uses his influence to make Do-cheol handle another case. He also tries to bribe Do-cheol's wife with the help of his conglomerate's SVP Choi Dae-woong, but she refuses, where Do-cheol threatens Tae-oh after learning this.

Do-cheol takes the help of a reporter to publish the news, but to no avail. Tae-oh hires a logistics contractor named Jeon to finish off Do-cheol and also makes the Internal Affairs to interrogate him, but he is timely saved by his team leader Oh. Do-cheol escapes from a murder attempt by Jeon, where a detective gets stabbed. Using the opportunity, Do-cheol and his team discover evidence and get approval for the investigation against Tae-oh, but Tae-oh's father and the conglomerate chairman Jo make Dae-woong to take the blame. With his team's help, Do-cheol learns that Bae was killed after he tried to seek revenge for assaulting him and it was made to look like a suicide.

After inquiring of Dae-woong, Do-cheol learns that Tae-oh is planning to escape to Singapore. Before leaving, Tae-oh throws a party where he meets his former girlfriend Jeong Da-hye (who is pregnant with his child) and tries to kill her when she abuses him. Do-cheol forms a plan where they plant a false case against Tae-oh for assaulting his girlfriend, and the cops fight with the bodyguards to arrest him. After an intense car chase, Do-cheol and Tae-oh engage in a hand-to-hand combat where despite brutal injuries, Do-cheol manages to arrest Tae-oh, who is later produced for a trial at the Supreme Court along with Dae-woong, and they are sentenced to prison. In the hospital, Do-cheol recovers from his injuries and soon returns back to duty.

Veteran opened in South Korea on August 5, 2015. It grossed ₩21.7 billion (US$18.6 million) from 2.75 million admissions over its first five days of release.^[15][16][17] By November 6, it had grossed US$92,077,504 from 13,411,343 admissions and is currently the 5th all-time highest-grossing film in Korean cinema history.^{[18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25]}

Ryoo Seung-wan and production company Filmmaker R&K confirmed that they agreed to make a sequel, which was supposed to hit theaters within two to three years of announcement.^[26][27][28] It was reported that Hwang Jung-min and Oh Dal-su will reprise their roles, and actor Jung Hae-in is also being considered to succeed Yoo Ah-in as the antagonist.^[29] It began filming as Veteran 2 in December 2022 with the cast of Hwang Jung-min, Oh Dal-su, Jang Yoon-ju, Oh Dae-hwan, and Kim Si-hoo.^[30] Titled I, the Executioner, it premiered as a midnight screening at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.^[31]

A Chinese remake of the film was announced in 2016.^[32] Originally slated for a 2017 release with Sun Honglei in the starring role, The Big Shot was released in 2019 and starred Wang Qianyuan.^[33]

An American remake of the film by Michael Mann is currently in development,^[34][35] and will begin production after the release of his film adaptation of Heat 2.^[36]