A movie that has endured for 7 years

Director Park Cheol-hwan's movie 'The Last Investigation' is about to be released in theaters seven years after filming. This work, which was originally scheduled to be released in 2020, will finally meet audiences on the 2nd of next month.

There are complex reasons why this film was buried in storage for a long time. Due to the COVID-19 incident in 2020, screenings in theaters with large crowds became difficult, and controversy arose over the drunk driving of lead actor Bae Seong-woo ahead of the release. It has become a so-called ‘warehouse movie’.

Composition following the tradition of Buddy Water

‘The Last Investigation’ continues the lineage of detective buddy dramas that include ‘Two Cops,’ ‘Recell Weapon,’ and ‘Girl Cops.’ The story begins when Jae-hyuk (Bae Seong-woo), an ace detective from the Seoul metropolitan investigation unit, is demoted to Boeun, North Chungcheong Province due to a series of bad luck, and there he becomes a partner with MZ detective Joong-ho (Jung Ga-ram), a former influencer.

While investigating the theft of a church donation box, two detectives discover evidence that the suspect is the culprit of the Seoul serial murders. He asks the prosecutor in charge, Mi-ju (Lee Som), to resume the investigation and goes on a 'field investigation' to Seoul, but encounters the suspicious attitude of detectives at Seoul's Gangnam Police Station.

The charm of a twist, but a hole in probability

The production team prepared a secret weapon to turn the incident around. It puts the audience in a dilemma as to whether the person known to be the criminal is the real criminal or whether the seemingly innocent suspect is actually innocent.

However, in this process, a fatal probability flaw is revealed. A representative example is the character Minho (Jo Han-cheol), the leader of the Seoul detective team. Rather than turning from a simple competitor to a helper, it shows a change that is close to the collapse of the character. The question, “If you were going to do that, why did you do it that way?” is not resolved. In an investigative story where meticulous twists and turns are key, this structural flaw acts as a significant weakness.

Actors’ acting, light and shadow

Bae Seong-woo, who returned to the screen after a long time, shows the fun of acting in a life that exquisitely mixes justice and reality. However, there are aspects of the actual drunk driving incident that hinder immersion in the role of a detective. Jeong Ga-ram's Jung-ho character is attractive, but his acting skills, which were not yet perfect at the time of filming, leave something to be desired.

The real homework of warehouse movies

The problem that 'warehouse movies' often face is that although they represent the cutting edge of their time, they are out of date. The setting of an influencer-turned-detective from 'The Last Investigation' has also become an out-of-fashion topic as of 2025.

However, it is difficult to blame this film's limitations solely on external factors such as COVID-19 or actor controversy. There are also internal problems such as poor development and flaws in character composition. 'The Last Investigation' is not simply a film that meets the wrong time and situation, but a case that leaves something to be desired in terms of the completeness of the work itself.