Mickey
This review may contain spoilers
Could've easily become Jeon Wick, but ultimately ended up being Just Weak
When a well-known, brutal, 100% target- rate female assassin does not eliminate her target due to personal circumstances, she becomes the target herself.
Kill Boksoon (길복순) is a movie that is very much the love child between the action, dark comedy, and a little bit of art-house genres of cinema. The opening confrontation was just pure art, as with the other action scenes. The cinematography was not just top-notch, but its spontaneity and fluid flow was really able to capture the essence of what the action scenes were all about. Added with spanish background music element, the production team was really able to infuse moments that I would never forget for the rest of my "watching movies as a hobby" time.
Furthermore, Jeon Do-yeon was, as expected, exquisite in her role as the titular Gil Bok-soon. The wordplay of her last name to be incorporated with the english word "kill" was very witty context-wise. Fresh from watching her play as a single mom on CCiR, and another in this movie, I am glad that she picked this project despite playing very similarly at her last role. For this movie, she was able to show another, yet secretive side of motherhood that will do anything for her child. But her also being secretive here resulted to another problem, a quite common one in the parent-child relationship dynamic - often miscommunication.
As mentioned earlier, this movie has some art house film elements. There were 2 specifically. One was underexplored (LGBT subplot), while one was unneccesary (incest subplot). The former might be understandable given the nature of youth and it is progressive actually in Korean standards, but the latter did not gave substance to the story. It was questionable at best, cringe at worst.
Outside the captivating action scenes and great cinematography, the movie was dull. It's quite interesting to see a fast-paced action scene, followed by a slow-paced dialogue that takes too much screentime. This movie's quality could've been improved had it focused more on the action rather than the "mind games".
Morality was also tackled here, albeit grey. The concept of an "agency" handling "shows" for these trained assassins was unique. But the case that was the catalyst for the main lead to rethink about her chosen profession was rather forgettable. It would've been more impactful for her had the case itself be closer to her child's situation, rather just because the target was just close to her daughter age-wise.
It is already expected that Korean movies also explore the human side of a story, or the point of view of a character/s. In this case, it is about Bok-soon's duality as an apathetic killer and an overempathetic mother. But I was just disappointed that it wasn't executed properly here. One might think that was subtle and had to be given a deeper meaning, but given this movie's long screentime, it just ended up as incoherent, if not messy.
The ending was quite sufficient, but it was lacking of a climax. How was I to know whether this part of the movie is to be its most exciting part, when there was little indication to it. And the littlest of clue was already predictable story-wise. Good thing, it was filled-up with nice action scenes. The action itself could've been more appreciated if there was better lighting. A shocking plot twist could've added more flavor in this story. There was an attempt though, and the answer to said twist was even vague.
Nevertheless, the trailer with that spontaneous and seemingly effortless (but actually was done with utmost effort, production-wise) action scene made me excited about this, but the outcome turned out to be the opposite. Still, there were some positive aspects that deserves to be praised.
It has the similarities as John Wick, and this movie could've easily become Jeon Wick, but ultimately ended up being Just Weak.
P.S. It still funny to think that the flashback and current Nam Haeng-seons were together in this movie. Their action scene was just art, and the camerawork there was chef's kiss.
Kill Boksoon (길복순) is a movie that is very much the love child between the action, dark comedy, and a little bit of art-house genres of cinema. The opening confrontation was just pure art, as with the other action scenes. The cinematography was not just top-notch, but its spontaneity and fluid flow was really able to capture the essence of what the action scenes were all about. Added with spanish background music element, the production team was really able to infuse moments that I would never forget for the rest of my "watching movies as a hobby" time.
Furthermore, Jeon Do-yeon was, as expected, exquisite in her role as the titular Gil Bok-soon. The wordplay of her last name to be incorporated with the english word "kill" was very witty context-wise. Fresh from watching her play as a single mom on CCiR, and another in this movie, I am glad that she picked this project despite playing very similarly at her last role. For this movie, she was able to show another, yet secretive side of motherhood that will do anything for her child. But her also being secretive here resulted to another problem, a quite common one in the parent-child relationship dynamic - often miscommunication.
As mentioned earlier, this movie has some art house film elements. There were 2 specifically. One was underexplored (LGBT subplot), while one was unneccesary (incest subplot). The former might be understandable given the nature of youth and it is progressive actually in Korean standards, but the latter did not gave substance to the story. It was questionable at best, cringe at worst.
Outside the captivating action scenes and great cinematography, the movie was dull. It's quite interesting to see a fast-paced action scene, followed by a slow-paced dialogue that takes too much screentime. This movie's quality could've been improved had it focused more on the action rather than the "mind games".
Morality was also tackled here, albeit grey. The concept of an "agency" handling "shows" for these trained assassins was unique. But the case that was the catalyst for the main lead to rethink about her chosen profession was rather forgettable. It would've been more impactful for her had the case itself be closer to her child's situation, rather just because the target was just close to her daughter age-wise.
It is already expected that Korean movies also explore the human side of a story, or the point of view of a character/s. In this case, it is about Bok-soon's duality as an apathetic killer and an overempathetic mother. But I was just disappointed that it wasn't executed properly here. One might think that was subtle and had to be given a deeper meaning, but given this movie's long screentime, it just ended up as incoherent, if not messy.
The ending was quite sufficient, but it was lacking of a climax. How was I to know whether this part of the movie is to be its most exciting part, when there was little indication to it. And the littlest of clue was already predictable story-wise. Good thing, it was filled-up with nice action scenes. The action itself could've been more appreciated if there was better lighting. A shocking plot twist could've added more flavor in this story. There was an attempt though, and the answer to said twist was even vague.
Nevertheless, the trailer with that spontaneous and seemingly effortless (but actually was done with utmost effort, production-wise) action scene made me excited about this, but the outcome turned out to be the opposite. Still, there were some positive aspects that deserves to be praised.
It has the similarities as John Wick, and this movie could've easily become Jeon Wick, but ultimately ended up being Just Weak.
P.S. It still funny to think that the flashback and current Nam Haeng-seons were together in this movie. Their action scene was just art, and the camerawork there was chef's kiss.
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