The Villainess
by Byung-gil Jung (Director)
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This convoluted (at times confusing) non-linear story about super-assassin Sook-hee (OK-bin Kim) and her manipulation by various secret Government agencies is a kinetic and muscular piece of work from director Byung-gil Jung and cinematographer Jung-hun Park. Some of the actions sequences are incredible, particularly those shot in one continuous take - or edited so cleverly as to look like one take. The fight choreography is stylised and innovative and despite computer enhancement is still first class. OK-bin Kim puts in a marvellous performance to match the technical wizardry on display - she is brilliant in the fight sequences, but is also able to deliver the required emotional content. Overall "Aknyeo" (The Villainess) is a top-notch show more slice of hard-hitting Korean action cinema. show less
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ThingScore 69
Jung ("Action Boys") fails to sustain the breakneck momentum of these early bravura sequences. There's a lot of chutzpah on display throughout the film, even during essentially soggy, dialogue-intensive sequences, which are broken up by disorienting flashbacks. But Jung's biggest failing is his inability to make Sook-hee a heroine worth caring about.
added by ShelfMonkey
Byung’s inability to string together a coherent narrative is nearly offset by his gift for staging some bonkers scenes of death and destruction. It’s amazing how quickly a movie can spark back to life when a woman in a wedding dress fishes a sniper rifle from the filter of a restaurant toilet Michael Corleone style and starts shooting off someone’s sunglasses from half a mile away. The show more magic is in the details, like the way that Sook-hee hits the people around her target so they fall over and give her a cleaner view. There’s an incredible motorcycle fight in there, even if it’s hard to say who’s fighting. And then there’s the climactic car chase that starts with a car crash and builds to some passenger seat ballet that’s on par with the best of “Baby Driver.” show less
added by ShelfMonkey
Byung-gil Jung’s revengesploitation film is overstuffed and overcooked, lurching between melodrama, satire and kung fu grindhouse. At one point, the film turns into a K-drama style romcom, handsome, sensitive, devoted love interest and all (never mind the fact that he’s also Sook-hee’s handler, unbeknown to her). Not all of it comes together, but its balls-to-the-wall approach is riotous show more fun to behold, especially a climactic set piece involving apocalyptic rain, a bus, a machete and a self-driving car. show less
added by ShelfMonkey
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