The Korean John Wick? Not quite, but it makes for a decent tagline for this article!
In Kill Boksoon (2023) we have our hero Gil Bok-soon (Jeon Do-yeon), who is the best assassin at M.K. Ent. She’s trying to balance a life of killing people while being a nurturing mother to her daughter, Jae-yeong (Si-ah Kim). One of her bosses, Cha Min-Hee (Esom), feels like Bok-soon’s getting old and softening up and needs to be gotten rid of. Her other boss, Cha Min-Kyu (Sol Kyung-gu), has a very soft spot in his iron heart for Bok-soon and tries to advocate for/protect her. The clashing of power, fists, and blades ensue, turning things upside down at M.K. Ent.
Jeon Do-yeon oozes BVE (big vagina energy) in her role as Bok-soon. She has that perfect intimidating look, the takes-no-shit walk, and composure of an assassin with unparalleled confidence in the fact that she is the best. From the moment she steps on screen you know she’s gonna rock the shit out of this movie when given the chance.
Unfortunately, Bok-soon doesn’t get the chance to display many of her fighting skills until closer to the end. My big big frustration with Kill Boksoon is that it has this terrific BVE to get the audience pumped up but then the action just does not follow through enough. I realize that Korean storytelling often has a different rhythm than Western storytelling, but, like, would it have killed them to get a few more fight scenes in here?? The opening scene features Bok-soon fighting one of the greatest modern Samurai. Great! Sets the tone, displays some humor, and shows that Bok-soon will do whatever it takes to win, even cheating. And then… talking. More talking. So much more talking, in fact, that the next fight scene doesn’t take place until around 32 minutes in. Then more talking, a couple of fights, and more talking. Bok-soon FINALLY gets into a big, excellent fight around 1 hour and 25 minutes into the film, FINALLY turning that BVE into action and proving to all of us that she indeed is the best.
The best fight scene in the film materializes at this 1 hour and 25 minute mark. A hit on Bok-soon rings out to her assassin friends, turning a friendly lunch between old pals into an all out bloodbath. Five assassins attacking Bok-soon all at once embarks on a beautiful action journey complete with excellent choreography, usage of all kinds of props and weapons, and a poetic style of camera movements that make you pause and whisper “yes!” to your dog/cat/nearby pet. There’s a slow motion zoom in on Bok-soon smiling as she fights for her life and a touch of humor as she pauses to request no one stabs her in the face. Marvelous!
Outside of the few action scenes, Kill Bok-soon delivers an elegant story of how becoming a parent can change a person, but oftentimes we fight against that change. Bok-soon swears becoming a mother won’t change her as an assassin but she finds it easier said than done. In all honesty, becoming a parent SHOULD change a person. If you don’t change anything after becoming a parent for the first time, you should really examine yourself. Change is not bad, it’s how we survive. And as said in the film, “we’re all just trying to survive.”
Overall, while light on the action, Kill Bok-soon bears enough of an interesting story to keep you invested and the action scenes it does have are well choreographed and stylistic. Calling it the “Korean John Wick” only examines a few surface elements, like our hero being part of a classy, elite assassin society, in what is overall a compelling drama bearing strong enough writing and performances to make up for its dry spells.
Time Until Action: ~6 minutes
Action Rating: 2 Big Vagina Energy, out of 5
Disclaimer: Just because I am the Action Flick Chick and love action movies does not mean I condone real life violence in any way. Everyone has their own shit to deal with, be nice to each other.
