The Policeman’s Lineage – Intense & Riveting
Director: Kyu-maan Lee
Writer: Bae Young-lk (Screenplay)
Starring: Cho Jin-woong, Choi Woo-sik, Hee-soon Park, Kwon Yul, Hyeon-jin Baek
Plot: Parasite’s Woo-sik Choi stars as one of the two cops with different methods teaming up to investigate a case that turns the police force upside down.
Runtime: 1 Hour 59 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: The Policeman’s Lineage starts when a young major crimes police officer Choi Min Jae (Woo-sik) finds himself alienate within the police force for going against a fellow violent cop. Choi given a chance to redeem himself by Internal Affairs officer Hwang In Ho (Park) if he investigates a fellow officer Park Gang Yoon (Jin-woong) an officer they believe is involved in the murder of another cop to cover up his own criminal activities.
Major Choi gets transferred to Park’s department, who quickly takes him under his wing, because of his history with his father, putting added conflict between the decision Choi must make, but will it all be in the line of duty.
Thoughts on The Policeman’s Lineage
Characters & Performances – Major Choi Min Jae is a major crimes officer that has followed his father’s footsteps in becoming a cop, following the rules with his duty. This will see him report against an abusive officer who went outside the law to get the outcome. He gets reassigned by internal affairs to investigate a chief that once worked with his father, leading him down a path of learning about his father who stopping a potentially corrupt police officer. Park Gang Yoon is the high-power chief that has a loyal team, that is being suspected of using his connections to clear out the competition to give himself the power in the criminal underworld. He takes Choi under his wing because of his connection to his father, offering his stories for loyalty. Park will remain calm and composed through any situation, no matter what it is, if he is accused of a crime or searching for answers. When we meet the rest of the characters, we have the other cops in the department, the internal affairs officers pushing Choi into the operation and the drug dealers that are looking that are the targets in the operation.
Parasite’s Choi Woo-sik is brilliant in the leading role, a conflicted cop that wants to do right, who must balance his own emotions of wanting to follow in his father’s footsteps or learn the truth about what happened to his father. Cho Jin-woong is wonderfully calm, while menacing in the movie, always looking like a dangerous man, while making us wonder which side of the law he will fall on.
Story – The Policeman’s Lineage will follow a young police officer that is pushed into helping an internal affairs operation into another potential corrupt officer, who once had a connection with his father, leading him down a path of uncertainty. Where The Policeman’s Lineage steps up the game, is with the conflict between the two sides that Choi must work with, where he could easily be the man manipulated by Park, or he could be trying to expose a cop that is doing more than thought to take down the local drug lords. This is a story that will keep you guessing, leave you questioning loyalty within a police force and showing the background to how underfunding could create bigger problems.
Themes – The Policeman’s Lineage is a crime thriller out of South Korea, bringing the tension from not knowing which side of the law Park operates on, as Choi must risk his own life to learn the truth about what is happening. Each location will place Choi into a location he might not feel comfortable in, showing us how this assignment will test him.
Final Thoughts – The Policeman’s Lineage is a tension thriller keeping us guessing throughout.