At The Movies: I, The Executioner a satisfying cop drama, family film Bookworm charms

I, The Executioner (NC16)

118 minutes, opens on Oct 31
★★★☆☆

The story: It is serious business after the hijinks of their 2015 South Korean blockbuster caper Veteran. Hard-boiled detective Seo Do-cheol (Hwang Jung-min) and his Violent Crimes Unit in Seoul pursue a serial killer who is taunting them with online clips of his next victim.

The crime thriller I, The Executioner – a sequel released domestically as Veteran 2 – has elsewhere adopted the title of Tai Kato’s 1968 Japanese neo-noir along with its vigilante theme.

The psychopath is punishing criminals who evaded the system, executing them in the grisly manner of their misdeeds and causing nationwide chaos. A YouTube channel is quick to profit off the bloodlust by inviting submissions to his hit list. “Is there a good murder and a bad murder?” Do-cheol berates the excited public.

But it is this old-school veteran’s extrajudicial justice in the earlier film, roughing up nasties in his crusade against class inequality, that inspires cherubic rookie patrolman Park Sun-woo (Jung Hae-in) to join the manhunt. What good are Sun-woo’s lethal mixed martial arts skills otherwise?

Director-cum-co-writer Ryoo Seung-wan returns to critique the legacy of violence that is now everywhere: in school bullying, incidents of sexual harassment and internet culture.

Through it all, he upholds his popular reputation as the “Chungmuro action kid” of Escape From Mogadishu (2021) and Smugglers (2023). His crunchy set pieces, ingeniously choreographed, include a fight down the stairs at Namsan Tower and a rooftop parkour chase in the rain.

This is a dynamic if ultimately formulaic movie, one of those that ends with the villain explaining himself over a tortuous, far-fetched cliffhanger.

Hot take: A seam of social commentary adds to a satisfying action-packed cop drama.

Bookworm (NC16)

103 minutes, opens on Oct 31
★★★★☆

The story: When an exploding toaster puts her mum in a coma, 11-year-old Mildred’s (Nell Fisher) father, washed-up American magician Strawn Wise (Elijah Wood), flies in and accompanies her into the New Zealand wilderness on a quest for a mythological black panther.

Strawn’s idol is the American illusionist David Copperfield. Mildred’s is the orphan hero David Copperfield from the classic Charles Dickens novel. “I don’t know what that is,” says Strawn.

He has a lot to learn.

A precocious child parenting a clueless adult is the hoariest of stories. But the sweet, funny Bookworm by director Ant Timpson is a New Zealand import with its own deadpan personality. It has the dry Kiwi humour and delightful odd coupling of Taika Waititi’s Hunt For The Wilderpeople (2016).

Fisher is a true talent, and will appear in the fifth and final season of hit Netflix series Stranger Things (2016 to present).

Her Mildred is plucky and loquacious, and condescends to the disappointing absentee dad she is meeting for the first time. Strawn is indeed a wuss, although Wood, who also headlined Timpson’s 2019 directing debut Come To Daddy, is endearing in his efforts to connect.

Bookish Mildred has read every outdoor guide without ever actually venturing out and is as inexperienced as Strawn on their camping expedition.

Still, she is resolute in locating the Canterbury Panther: The $50,000 reward for documented proof of the cat’s existence would help her struggling single mum (Morgana O’Reilly). There is emotional complexity to this wiseacre.

The unlikely companions must hence survive each other and the mortal perils of the wild. Shot on location in Canterbury, their adventure is a throwback to childhood favourites The Goonies (1985) and Jumanji (1995) in its sense of wonderment.

Hot take: This father-daughter excursion is 2024’s most charming family picture. Mothers will be envious.