The Unjust (the Korean title translates to "Bad Deal" or "Unfair Trade") is a 2010 film from South Korea directed by Ryoo Seung-wan.
It is a searing indictment of the corruption endemic in Korean law and law enforcement. Seoul is terrorized by a serial killer who has murdered five little girls, a case so horrifying that the President of South Korea has ordered the police to catch the killer. Unfortunately, trigger-happy cops chasing a suspect wind up shooting him. With the President breathing down their necks, and the public in a state of hysteria, the Seoul police decide they need a fall guy.
His commanders tab Detective Choi, who didn't graduate from the police academy and thus is not part of the in-crowd at Seoul PD, to do the dirty work. Choi, promised a long-denied promotion in return for finding a fall guy, decides to frame one Lee Dong-seok, a convicted child molester. Choi enlists Jang Seok-gu, a corrupt businessman, who kidnaps Lee and beats and tortures him until Lee agrees to confess.
Enter Prosecutor Joo, himself thoroughly corrupt, who is first seen taking bribes from a different corrupt businessman. Joo gets the Lee Dong-seok case and decides to go for the death penalty. Lee, who was promised a not-guilty-by-insanity deal, reneges on his confession and says that he was paid. Joo, who has no problems being on the take for sleazy businessmen but can't go so far as to convict an innocent man of child murder, decides to expose the real truth.
Ma Dong-seok appears as Choi's sidekick, Lt. Ma Dae-ho.
Tropes:
- Answer Cut: A police chief, having decided that Detective Choi can do the dirty work of finding a fall guy, wonders "What's he up to now?" Cut to Choi, busting Kim Yang-su the corrupt businessman (the one that is bribing Prosecutor Joo).
- "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: After all sorts of crimes, including three murders, DNA analysis reveals that Lee Dong-seok actually was the killer. If the police had only waited, Lee would have gone to prison, Dae-ho wouldn't be dead, and Choi could have avoided selling his soul.
- Dirty Cop: Practically everyone in the Seoul police, none of whom show any qualms about framing a man for murder. Choi is reluctant, but when his supervisor uses both carrot (promotion) and stick (Internal Affairs investigation), he caves and frames Lee Dong-seok.
- The cops who killed the prime suspect in the opening sequence have no problem putting his body in an old car and taking that car to a junkyard to be crushed.
- Framing the Guilty Party: After all the skullduggery, corruption, and murder, a DNA analysis shows that Lee Dong-seok actually was the serial killer.
- Gray Rain of Depression: Just to make things sadder, it's pouring rain when Choi and Ma leave the morgue after the death of Lee Dong-seok, and find Lee's young daughter and mentally disabled wife waiting outside.
- Gun Struggle: Dae-ho, the only Seoul cop who isn't a scumbag, shows up just in time to see Choi shoot a fleeing criminal In the Back. Dae-ho grabs Choi's gun, they struggle, and Dae-ho is shot and killed.
- Handshake Refusal: Choi rejects Joo's outstretched hand when they meet. Joo isn't offended, since his handshake offer wasn't sincere and he's actually there to show Choi the evidence that he, Choi, conspired with Jang to frame Lee Dong-seok.
- High-Class Call Girl: When Prosecutor Joo meets Reporter Kim, the reporter is drunk in a restaurant with a very good-looking woman dressed in traditional Korean clothing all over him. Joo gives him the Lee Dong-seok story, but when a second hot babe in Korean dress arrives, Joo hurriedly leaves.
- When Joo and Choi meet again, Choi, who is trying to get on Joo's good side, has another fancy hooker in Korean dress waiting for him. Joo kicks the hooker out.
- Internal Affairs: Prosecutor Joo has arranged an "internal audit" investigating Detective Choi, who has arrested Kim Yang-su, the businessman that owns Joo. Choi's own superiors tell him they'll make the audit go away if he plays ball and finds a fall guy for the serial murders.
- Killer Cop: Choi arranges the murder of Jang Seok-gu to cover his tracks, then kills Jang's sidekick, the guy who actually killed Jang.
- Never Suicide: When Prosecutor Joo's inquiries get inconvenient, the police get a hoodlum to strangle Lee Dong-seok in his cell, and make it look like Lee hanged himself.
- "Pan Up to the Sky" Ending: The movie ends with the camera panning up to the sky, after Joo's father-in-law tells him that he'll get him off the hook for the corruption scandal.
- Plot-Triggering Death: One of the cops putting a bullet through the head of their prime suspect leaves the police needing to find a "replacement".
- Rooftop Confrontation: In the opening sequence two cops chase a suspect along a catwalk between storage towers. One of them shoots the suspect, which leaves Seoul PD needing to find someone else.
- Serial Killer: A serial killer has murdered five schoolgirls.
- Shameful Strip: Choi does this too himself, stripping to his underwear and kneeling before Prosecutor Joo as he makes a pose of submission and begs Joo to let him off the hook.
- Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: Real, real cynical. The cops shoot suspects and cover it up, then frame innocent people. Prosecutors are hugely corrupt, owned by rich businessmen. The one cop who isn't a scumbag, Dae-ho, gets killed, and posthumously framed by Choi for Choi's crimes.
- Storefront Television Display: The serial killer story is shown to be huge news by, among other things, all the TVs on display in a store playing a news report about it.
- Vigilante Execution: After the other cops in Choi's squad find out that he was responsible for the death of Dae-ho, they kill him themselves.
