Kill Boksoon is the sort of Korean action film that has everything you want; rich backstories and world building, smart plot driven character arcs, and kick ass action set pieces. The gimmick here is our central figure is a single mom in the day while working as Korea's greatest assassin by night. This True Lies-ish premise allows for some great meta commentary on the challenges of working women and how their experiences differ from male peers. And it all comes together through Sung-hyun's smart story and tight direction.
Kill Boksoon isn't all action. Sung-hyun fleshes out his film between set pieces with well paced dramatic moments which feel as organic to what's going on as his wonderfully shot action. Little feels gratuitous or out of place. But it also doesn't feel like it's slipping into trying to be too cool. I was most impressed with how balanced the film felt and how all of it all comes together as a fully rounded story.
Central to this is Jeon Do-yeon as the title character pulling off the action and drama equally. Watching Kill Boksoon you immediately get the feeling this could be the sort of film you'd want to revisit in a series. Here's hoping we'll get more adventures of Gil Bok-soon soon.
Kill Boksoon
Starring: Jeon Do-yeon, Ki Si-a, Sol Kyung-gu
Writer/Director: Byun Sung-hyun
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