The Man Standing Next

In the 1970s, South Korea is ruled by President Park, who maintains control through the KCIA, the country's most powerful intelligence agency. Kim Gyu-pyeong, the KCIA director, is being undermined by the president's security chief, Kwak Sang-cheon, who is ambitious to take over. When former KCIA director Park Yong-gak, who has information about illegal government activities, goes into exile and testifies against the government in a US Senate investigation, tensions rise. President Park sends Kim to stop Park Yong-gak from publishing his manuscript but discovers that Park Yong-gak suggests the president is being financially backed by offshore Swiss accounts when he returns. This leads to conflicts between Kim and Kwak, who is behind a wiretapping plot on the president. Kim sends an agent to Paris to investigate further, and there, they discover that Kwak ordered the assassination of ex-Director Park under orders from President Park. Kim decides not to be outdone and plans to have Park killed. Two teams, one led by Kwak and the other by Kim, aim to assassinate Park in Paris. Kim's team successfully kidnaps Park, but Park escapes temporarily before being tracked down and killed by Ham, one of Kim's agents. President park is displeased with kim's handling, which leads to a breakdown in their friendship, and Kim starts to break down under stress due to his killing of his friend. The administration faces pro-democracy protest amid fears they could spread from Busan ad Masan., with Kwak taking a harsh stance and Kim a more levelheaded approach. Kim learns that Park may replace him, attempts to plan something, and meets with his subordinates to kill Park. During a dinner with park, their conversation becomes heated; Kim shoots kwak in the arm before turning to Park as his subordinates organize an attack on compound bodyguards. He attempts to finish Kwak but is forced to leave the room, returning to kill Kwah and Park.

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Some movies that have similar genres and were produced around the same time as The Man Standing Next include One Battle After Another, Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, Sinners, Black Bag, Parasite, Killers of the Flower Moon.

The Man Standing Next was released in theaters on February 27, 2020.