(Movie Review) The Verdict
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| ▲ Posters for "The Verdict" are seen in this image provided by JNC Media Group and KX Innovation. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
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| ▲ This image, provided by JNC Media Group and KX Innovation, shows a still from "The Verdict." (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
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| ▲ A still, provided by JNC Media Group and KX Innovation, shows Raka (Rio Dewanto), a court security guard in "The Verdict." (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
(Movie Review) The Verdict
(Movie Review) 'The Verdict' offers familiar vigilante justice tale despite ambitious collaboration
By Woo Jae-yeon
SEOUL, Jan. 7 (Yonhap) -- "In court, what wins becomes truth, not the other way around."
This line from the courtroom drama "The Verdict" encapsulates the film's brutal core theme -- one witnessed too often around the globe.
Co-directed by Lee Chang-hee of Netflix's original series "A Killer Paradox" and Indonesian director Yusron Fuadi, the film opens with a tense scene where solemn-faced Raka (Rio Dewanto), a court security guard, retrieves weapons from his locker before entering a packed courtroom and locking the door.
In a brief flash, ultrasound photos attached to the locker door are shown, hinting at his motive behind the hostage standoff that is about to unfold.
The immediately following scene shows a completely different Raka, an all-smiles and affectionate would-be father excited about the birth of his first child with his wife, Nina (Niken Anjani), who has just passed the bar exam.
Raka takes her to a fancy hotel restaurant to celebrate her becoming a lawyer, using a complimentary voucher he received from a wealthy man who had just evaded an attack by a grieving mother outside the courthouse -- the mother of a young man whose face was severely burned by the wealthy man's son.
Nina, a righteous woman who believes in the virtue of law and justice, is infuriated upon learning that the voucher came from the corrupt wealthy man and storms off to the ladies' room. On her way there, she accidentally bumps into Dika, the son of another powerful family, causing him to drop his mobile phone.
In a fit of rage, Dika impulsively decides to prove to his friend -- the one who burned the man -- that he, too, is above the law. He secretly follows Nina into the ladies' room and stabs her in the stomach with a broken flower vase. Moments later, Raka, concerned by Nina's prolonged absence, discovers her bleeding on the floor and catches Dika still at the scene.
From there, the narrative takes a predicable yet disturbing turn as Dika hires Timo (Reza Rahadian), a cunning and unethical lawyer who will do anything for money.
The film marks the first overseas project for director Lee, who has built a reputation in Korean thrillers with "The Vanished" (2017) and the unsettling OCN series "Strangers from Hell" before gaining international recognition with the Netflix hit "A Killer Paradox."
While the film is shot entirely in Indonesia with an all-Indonesian cast, the screenplay was written by Korean writers, including director Lee himself.
For all its cross-cultural collaboration, a growing trend in Korean cinema lately, the film follows a well-worn path -- a justice system serving the privileged, leaving a desperate victim to take matters into their own hands.
What sets it apart, however modestly, is that the protagonist tries to remain within legal boundaries, reinforcing his core belief in the rule of law.
The male protagonist depicted his character adequately, but a more intense portrayal might have better conveyed the profound grief of losing both wife and unborn child in a single moment.
"The Verdict," released in Indonesia on July 16 last year, is set for its Korean debut on Jan. 29.
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