Kill Bok-soon – A Stylish Assassin Action Thriller (Early Review)

John Wick isn’t the only big-time movie assassin out there. Since he came on the scene, many films have tried and failed to replicate that mold. While plenty of men and women have taken up the mantle, those attempts have often lacked the humanity required to ground their stories and tying them to their action. Perhaps it just took the right perspective to put it all together. Kill Bok-soon is a female-led South Korean assassin action thriller that introduces an assassin that is arguably on the same level as the aforementioned John Wick. Making her a mother automatically adds stakes and that dichotomy of having to juggle being an infamous assassin faced with the back half of her career and a single mother to a teen daughter made added another dimension to the story. Though the film fails to put it all together in a more seamless way, it introduces a brutal world lurking in the shadows. Using one world to inform the other, it barely scratches the surface in terms of what its assassin underworld could have offered, resulting in a lot of intense moments but also a less well-rounded watch.

As mentioned, Kill Bok-soon is centered Gil Bok-soon (Do-yeon), a notorious assassin renowned for her countless kills. She was a legend in the industry of murder which has taken a foothold across Korea. Spanning several companies each with their own stables of assassins all abiding by the same set of rules, she was seen as one of the best, if not the best out there. Killing was something Bok-soon was comfortable with and was really good at, working as the top performer for the biggest assassination company in Korea thanks to her special set of skills. However, things started to change for her following the birth of her daughter. Trying to balance both of those lives, she loved killing and her now teenage daughter Jae-Young (Si-A), but doing so proved to be a challenge. As Jae-Young was growing up, the more moments her mother missed and those absences did not go unnoticed. As her contract with MK, the biggest assassination company in Korea, was coming to an end, she saw a potential way out and a chance to spend more time with her daughter. Whether or not her friend and leader of MK, Chairman Cha Min-kyu (Kyung-gu), and the rest of that world would accept it remained to be seen.

Weighing that internal conflict while still performing her regular duties added another dimension to watching Bok-soon at work and with her tight-knit circle of assassin friends from other companies. However, that conflict was also common knowledge amongst most of her industry as some forces above her had a vested interest in keeping her on the job. Meanwhile, this also put her in a vulnerable position where others could try and knock her off her perch assuming she didn’t do it to herself first. As much as she tried to compartmentalize her lives, raising a teen daughter changes one’s perspective and that new perspective eventually followed her to her other job for better or worse. As the walls closed in, if anyone was going to find a way through, it was Bok-soon. But in order to move forward, she would have to deal with her past and her relationship with the powerful Chairman Cha, a skilled assassin in his own right, for which they shared a deep history going back to a young age. Seemingly the last hurdle before she could attain her freedom, that relationship could have been a touch more developed to add to the emotional impact of their inevitable confrontation.

A film already brimming in style, the action scenes were just as stylized and did not shy away from violence, boasting energetic choreography and flashy camerawork suiting of its over-the-top nature. Maybe its style, and overuse of reflections, can be too much at times but it is merely a small part of a larger story. While some viewers will more than likely get a kick out of the action, the character drama was more interesting. Doing a decent job at balancing tones and grounding the brutal subject matter with some humanity and giving Bok-soon emotional stakes, her arc was the best part of Kill Bok-soon. Do-yeon delivers a powerhouse performance as the titular assassin, showing range in giving the assassin side of the character charm and confidence and the mother side vulnerability and relatability. Over the course of the film, those sides became one. However, she was more than up to the challenge. Her chemistry with Si-A as Jae-Young are another highlight of the film, creating the strong bond that guided Bok-soon. Though Kyung-gu is menacing as Chairman Cha, it’s a shame that he didn’t get to show it more.

At the end of the day, Kill Bok-soon has enough style and violence to satisfy most genre fans and while it may not all work, its grounded story helps give it more staying power.

still courtesy of Netflix

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.