The new Korean action-flick Believer 2 has just dropped on Netflix, and it’s quite a disappointment for fans of the original. Still, it delivers a conclusion to the many unanswered questions from Part 1. Believer 2 begins with the call Won-Ho receives from Rak, pretending to be Mr. Lee. Detective Won-Ho finds Brian severely injured, with his back burned up by Rak and his people. Rak escapes with his dog, leaving Won-Ho high and dry. Rak is on a mission to find the real Mr. Lee, and Brian somehow survives his tryst with a welding gun to take revenge on Rak.
Spoilers Ahead
What Happens In The Film?
Rak escapes with his associates Manko and Rana, as well as his dog Laika. Rak seems to be on a personal mission to catch the man behind it all, even though he was working for the guy until a little while ago. Brian is arrested as Mr. Lee, but his assistant plans an escape, taking him out of the hospital and nursing him back to health. Won-Ho still hopes to catch the real Mr. Lee and convinces his superiors to let him continue on the case, but they’re determined to conclude things with Brian, seeing the toll it’s taking on the force. Rak takes Manko and Rana to an abandoned factory to continue making drugs, while a woman who goes by “Big Knife” learns that Ha-Rim is dead. Rak knows that Big Knife will help him reach Mr. Lee, so he sets up the factory as bait to draw her out of China.
Brian, on the other hand, associates himself with Big Knife, telling her that he will help replace the drugs that were taken away by the police and compensate her with new and better drugs with the help of Rak. Big Knife takes the bait and finds Rak’s factory. At the same time, despite the backlash, Won-Ho takes his partner to the scene, knowing that Big Knife will lead him to the real Mr. Lee. His partner ends up getting killed in the crossfire that ensues at the scene, leaving him heartbroken. He decided to continue the mission on his own without taking help from anyone on his team (with three deaths now, thanks to his recklessness).
The action now moves to Krabi, Thailand, where Brian is joined by a kidnapped Rak and Big Knife to get his raw materials to make more drugs. It turns out Big Knife is desperate for attention from Mr. Lee, whom she sees as a father figure (aww, of course, it’s daddy issues that lead to a woman being a psychopath). She had also tried to blame Ha-Rim and get him killed many years ago because she wanted to be the only one by Mr. Lee’s side. Won-Ho, too, makes it to Thailand after learning about the past of the real Mr. Lee. The man used to be a teacher who moved to Thailand. Won-Ho tracks down the school he used to work at. There, Won-Ho meets a man who lures him to an abandoned place with the idea that Mr. Lee is going to meet him, but in reality, he’s been asked by Big Knife to kill Won-Ho.
In Believer 2, Rak and Brian are actually secretly working together against Big Knife, and Rak requests that Brian spare the poor detective who finds himself in the middle of it all. Won-Ho asks Rak if he’s working so hard because of two people from his past, and Rak has no reply (we’ll learn later who they are). Big Knife has everything set for her, with Rak making the drugs, but when she calls the real Mr. Lee, he tells her he’s decided to retire and wants to spend time with his family. Big Knife tries desperately to receive his love, but she’s reminded by him that he’s not her father. In a rage, she beats up Rak and has an emotional outburst. Eventually, Rak ends up killing Big Knife while Won-Ho arrives and simultaneously shoots her in the head, too. Brian then reveals his true intentions, letting Won-Ho go but making sure Rak sees his associates hurt badly. He blinds Rana and gives Manko burns on his legs in the same manner that they hurt him in “Believer”. Brian wants Rak to kill the real Lee so he can really take over for him. Rak is devastated by the treatment of his friends; however, there’s a bigger story behind his desperation to find Mr. Lee.
Why Does Rak Want To Find Mr. Lee?
Brian holds Manko and Rana hostage while Rak tracks the real Mr. Lee, the mystery man, to Norway. He makes his way there to kill the man and free his friends. Rak has been searching for Mr. Lee because his biological parents had the misfortune of trusting Mr. Lee while crossing the border and taking his drug, Laika. Mr. Lee created this drug because he was curious as to how much pleasure the human brain can experience (ah, and here I am curious about tomorrow’s three meals). Obviously, this irks Rak, and he reveals his true reason for meeting Mr. Lee. The head of the largest drug operation in Asia has no recollection of the incident with Rak’s parents. Mr. Lee claims that the only thing he regrets is family and talks about how he’s living a tremendously ordinary life with his children (not what his tingling curiosity would’ve imagined). Rak tells Mr. Lee that he tracked him to the woman who was desperate to be his family. He reveals that he’s killed Mr. Lee’s real family—his daughter, son, and grandchild (yikes, no mercy here). While Mr. Lee is a seasoned criminal, it’s Rak who has the upper hand and shoots the man in the head before he can shoot him.
Rak decides to take over Mr. Lee’s place, and Manko and Rana are delivered to Norway. What Rak isn’t aware of is that Won-Ho has always been a few steps ahead and put a tracker on his dog, Laika. At the end of “Believer,” we see Won-Ho come to a house in the middle of snow-clad mountains and call out for Laika. He meets Rak, and there’s the sound of a bullet, but we don’t know who dies. In Believer 2, this question is answered. Rak tells Won-Ho that revenge isn’t as rewarding as he expected, and he never gets the closure he so desperately desires. Rak tells Won-Ho about how he wants to be the next Mr. Lee and pulls a gun on him but gets shot smack in the middle of the head, similar to how he shot Mr. Lee. It turns out Rak’s gun wasn’t even loaded, and it seems this was all part of his grand scheme. Rak’s mission is complete, so he chooses to get killed by Won-Ho, the righteous.
On the other hand, Won-Ho himself was obsessed with finding Lee and made many mistakes along the way. So, one could say he, too, meets a fitting end as Manko shoots him in the back of the head as he walks away from Rak’s house. It seems whatever you try to do, there’s no escaping impending death for these righteous guys. Revenge or obsession, at the end of the day, doesn’t help anybody, and at the end of Believer 2, everybody ends up dead or severely injured. Ironically, over the radio, it is heard that Won-Ho will receive special treatment for his work in finding the real Lee, but the guy is too dead to see it. Our conclusion is: don’t go after Mr. Lee for whatever reason.
