Confession of Murder

Confession of Murder (2012) has a great premise. One of the better premises I've heard of in quite some time, actually. Police officer Choi Hyeong-goo is haunted after failing to capture a murderer fifteen years ago. Ever since that day he has been wishing for just one more chance to catch the guy that had murdered, but fate seems to mock him when the statute of limitations for the man's crimes comes and goes. It gets even worse when the son of one of the murdered women kills himself before Choi Hyeong-goo's eyes. 

Two years later a book entitled I Am the Murderer gets published and it appears to be a tell-all about the murders. The man behind the book Lee Doo-seok claims to have written the book because he feels truly sorry for what has done, but one can't help but feel that the timing of this book is a bit odd. 

Why wait seventeen years to come forward, conveniently two years after the statute of limitations for his crimes has passed? Choi Hyeong-goo smells bullshit and claims that Lee Doo-seok is fake, but if the author is a fake then where did he get his facts from? And if Doo-seok turns out to be the real deal will there be anything Hyeong-goo can do about it? 

Confession of Murder is a damn good film even if it can't really decide on its tone. At times it wants to be a serious drama, at other times a macabre slasher/revenge flick, and then still at others it wants to be an all-out action-fest in the vein of a Lethal Weapon movie. In fact, there was one particular action scene somewhere in the middle of the film that was so over-the-top that I couldn't help but respect it. You'll recognize it when you see it. 

Still, I do wish this film had try to stay a gritty piece of work. The action elements, while certainly fun in their own right, distracted a bit from the film and the twist at the end seemed a bit too far-fetched. However, Confession of Murder is mostly held together by the strong pair of acting leads, Jung Jae-young and Park Si-yoo. The faults for this film can be laid at the feet of writer/director Jeong Byeong-gil, but I really don't hold it against him too much. This was only his second movie and his first one that wasn't a documentary. So, when you take that into consideration, this film is actually quite impressive. 

I hope Byeong-gil's next film is another step in the right direction. He could be very good if he keeps at it.