REVIEW: KILL BOKSOON

4/5

Mothering Gunplay.

137 Mins. Starring: Jeon Do-yeon, Sol Kyung-gu, Esom, Koo Kyo-hwan & Kim Si-a. Director: Byun Sung-hyun. 

Being a mother is hard enough. A single one, even more so. Then, imagine you had to take out the trash every night. Yakuza bosses in bathrobes, shuffling obnoxiously like they think they're Muhammed Ali. Training montages with young upstarts who don't know that everything John Wick can do with a pencil, you can do better with a Sharpie. A lunch break that turns into one hell of a food fight. Let alone those judging ladies that lunch. Speaking of which, if you think Netflix's original movies are not worth your time...let alone your subscription, then let the streaming service's Asian cinema (Japan's 'Call Me Chihiro' last month for example) change your mind like your password when an ex still uses your account. South Korea is already the new Hollywood leader of entertainment. From BTS to BLACKPINK and the Oscar Best Picture 'Parasite' to Netflix's most successful show 'Squid Game'. 

Now, the director of 'The Merciless' Byun Sung-hyun brings us an amazing action of explosive 'Atomic Blonde' styling, that could even rival Korea's 'The Villainess', laced with definitive drama in 'Kill Boksoon'. All in the same month the fourth chapter of the formidable 'John Wick' franchise (with an Ana de Armas fronted 'Ballerina' spin-off in rehearsal) directed by former stuntman Chad Stahelski shows the art of action choreography. It seems like we are living in a new golden age of martial arts based set-pieces that the Hong Kong cinematic feats of Jackie Chan and Michelle Yeoh are surely proud of. Especially as the latter brought home the Oscar for Best Actress for the Academy Award-winning movie 'Everything Everywhere All At Once'. The sort of Hollywood homage Keanu Reeves travelled 2013 for ('47 Ronin', 'Man Of Tai Chi'), before hitting paydirt and striking gold with a pencil.. Sung-hyun's hallmark hand-to-hand combat and the way he handles the camera as director brings new definition to the dynamic. Dynamite set to the score of a tense twisting and turning Rubik's Cube that may as well be a time bomb. Exploding in wall-to-wall fights that turn you upside down and spin you right 'round, round, baby 'right round (like a record). 

Imagine being an assassin trying to retire without a trace of a "one last job" cliché. All whilst being a mother to a teenage daughter, smoking cigarettes like your gun and finding one in your purse. It's enough to drive a sane one crazy, but our 'La Femme Nikita' Jeon Do-yeon makes an absolute killing. The first Korean actress to win an award at Cannes (the Best Actress of the 60th Film Festival for 2007's 'Secret Sunshine') and star of Netflix's 'Crash Course In Romance' gives you one in handling a handgun and a home life. Oozing confidence in a blood burgundy suit as her targets run rivers the same, she's a hit, man. A legend. So much so shell casings don't even hit her. Dodge this. She sleuth sees everything in a Keanu as The One in 'The Matrix' bullet-time like Robert Downey Jr.'s 'Sherlock Holmes'. But come now, she's not the only one who can play this game. 

With an axe to grind, shopping in hand, it's the family dynamics with 'Miss Baek' and 'Ashfall' star Kim Si-a coming of age, that really strikes a chord. Showing us the apple with the switch-blade in it (like 'Rush Hour 2') doesn't fall too far from the tree in this garden of action and Korean cinema Eden. It's what gives the gratuitous gore its dramatic weight, with equal helpings of heart and heft making the two hour and twenty minute runtime feel like a walk into the lobby where you hope 'Boksoon' doesn't have to remove any metallic items she may be carrying. Keys. Loose change. Studded with stars like the walls are hollow points, 'The Merciless' reunited star Sol Kyung-gu gives us a Russian bar brawl to rival the time Colin Firth's 'Kingsman' took Kentucky to church. Model actress Esom lights up the screen with just a look of her star power, with the charisma wattage to match the electricity. Whilst 'Train To Busan', 'Peninsula' sequel star Koo Kyo-hwan threatens to runaway with this picture like an art thief, anytime his portrait is on-screen like Picard. The knives are more than out for 'Kill Boksoon', but here's hoping this isn't the final cut, burying the hatchet. We want to renew the contract for another hit. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Further Filming: 'The Merciless', 'The Villainess', 'John Wick: Chapter 4'.