Brief Story Line
Gil Boksoon (Jeon Do-yeon - Emergency Declaration, Crash Course in Romance TV series etc) was a ruthless killer who was part of an assassin organization called MK. ENT led by its commissary Cha Min-kyu (Sol Kyung-gu - Phantom, The Book of Fish etc) and his sister, director Cha Min-hee (Esom - Because This is My First Life TV series, Like for Likes etc). Boksoon was highly respected by other assassins including Han Hee-sung (Koo Kyo-hwan - Train to Busan: Peninsula, D. P TV series etc) who felt that he was good enough to get the best assignments but unfortunately had to settle with low grade type.
Outside her work, Boksoon was actually a single mother who was having strained relationship with her teenage daughter Gil Jae-yeong (Kim Si-a - The Silent Sea TV series etc). And the work did not exactly make it easy as she had to be out of the country for some time. Things got really complicated for Boksoon as she was nearing the end of her contract and wanted to focus on her daughter, but Commissary Cha wanted to keep her despite the objection of Director Cha.
So what would happen to Boksoon as she struggled with her work and trying to be close with her daughter? You could find out in this movie.
End of Brief Story Line
When I began this movie, I was a bit surprised to see the duration was 2 hours 17 minutes which I thought was pretty long. I will get back to this duration later. As the movie started, I thought it was pretty good as an opener with something quite unique to end it. It soon changed to a lighter tone when we were introduced with the daughter and the completely different approach that Boksoon had to use at home compared to the one at her work. And that was basically the theme of the whole movie of Boksoon struggling with her two opposite work/life.
As a fan of action movie, I liked the fight scenes here which I thought were very stylish. The director seemed to like using one continuous shot from different angles to give an effective fight sequence. There were also few scenes that showed Boksoon's possible scenarios of fighting which I thought was quite interesting. Though it might not have been the first time I saw it, but still it fascinated me, especially during the finale. As much as I liked the fights, I personally felt they were too few which was funny considering the length of the movie. To be honest there were few times I felt bored in the middle. For me, this film probably had a bit too many scenes that did not give any additional effect on the story and might be better replaced with the action (or take them out completely to make it shorter).
In term of story, it was what intrigued me to give a try. The dynamics between Boksoon and her daughter was interesting to watch with problems that were quite realistic and could happen to any other family. There were also few surprises that involved the Chas which was quite the highlight as well. The cast in general did their job wonderfully, with Jeon Do-yeon convincing as a single mother and very good in the action sequence. I have no doubt in Kyung-gu's ability but Esom was also quite admirable as this unique character. Aside from the names above, there were also other support cast and special appearances by people whom I think my wife is familiar with, while I only recognized Lee Jae-wook as he played in the highly popular series Alchemy of Souls. The one that really caught my attention was Lee Yeon who played as the trainee assassin in MK. ENT, Kim Yeong-ji. She was even nominated for Best Supporting Actress (along with Do-yeon as Best Actress) in the 2023 Baeksang Arts Awards.
The movie was written and directed by Byun Sung-hyun who was experienced in making critically acclaimed movies like Kingmaker and The Merciless. I also felt a bit of similarity with John Wick movies like the existence of assassin organizations and the brutal and violent fight scenes that were well crafted (though the amount of fights were not as many). Btw, there was a mid end credit scene that seemed to subtly resolve one of the issue that created problem for Boksoon in the first place. Although the ending did not make it very clear of the continued fate of the lead character, but I guess it did provide a bit of closure in the main part. So if you are looking for a movie about assassin who had to juggle between her dangerous and unusual work with her life as a single mother of a teenaged daughter, then you could give it a try. It is currently available only on Netflix.
Mike's movie moments rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
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