The Killer: A Girl Who Deserves to Die (2022) - Choi Jae-hoon

[Yihetuan]

I really wanted to like this and I admit that Jang Hyuk is pretty cool as the stoic latte slurping hitman on a personal mission to take down an international sex trafficking ring. Yes, it's Taken, Man on Fire, Ahjussi all rolled into one and funny enough, The Man from Nowhere is referenced in this movie in a tongue in cheek way. But despite some cool action set pieces including a nice fight sequence in the hallway of a hotel ala Old Boy (axes and guns instead of a hammer) and some brutal knife and gunplay, it just left me sort of "meh" in the end. It was also cool to see Bruce Khan again after a long hiatus from Revenger but the ending fight between him and Jang Hyuk like the majority of the move left me rather wanting.

 

[laagi]

As always let's start with a trailer to get some interest going

Stop me if you heard this one...

A guy with a particular set of skills and mysterious past is rather reluctantly tasked to look after a stubborn teenage girl. Unfortunately something happens to said girl and now our guy will unleash hell for those responsible!

This pretty much sums up the entire plot of The Killer. Yes it's been done a million times (or at least that's how it feels) before. So plot wise there's nothing new here. The Killer even goes as far as literally quoting one of the better known movies with a similar plot "The Man From Nowhere". Pretty ballsy move if you ask me or just a simple show of appreciation for korean action cinema.

So let's talk action. Yes! It's good. And I just have to get it off my chest The Killer does ONE thing right in particular. It increases the intensity and level of violence until the end and closes with a high note. I really miss this and feel it's lacking a lot in newer productions. Don't go on shooting all your powder at the beginning. It can make a movie feel lackluster and downright boring.

Also the mayhem on screen is brutal. I mean Bang Ui-gang (Jang Hyuk) not only f*cks up baddies but straight up kills them! There's no excuse made here. And I loved it!

Another positive aspect and that will probably come as a relief for most (looking at you @One Armed Boxer) The Killer only has a runtime of 95 minutes believe that.

There is however one downside to all of this... the biggest crime the movie commits is that it's all style and no substance. There's never a doubt that Bang Ui-gang is just gonna mow down his opponents with little to no effort. Every shot hits (mostly headshots) every strike is almost perfect. A bit higher stakes and at least making us believe for a second our anti-hero could get hurt would've done The Killer good.

Another thing is that it does lack the polish and budget of it's bigger competitors in the same genre. Then again it's easily equally entertaining.

In the End The Killer is a perfect B-movie with a simple story and some hard hitting action! Highly recommended. BTW, stick around til the end to for some BTS...

Edited November 7, 2022 by laagi

[Drunken Monk]

I’ve been waiting for a US release of this one. I’ve hoped We’ll Go USA would pick it up but no news yet. I’m itching to see it.

[legendarycurry]

I've seen less than 20 or so Korean films I think but this one sounds fun.

[thundered mantis]

Searching the web for more Bruce Khan vehicles I got onto this South Korean actioner from last year. It´s directed by Jae Hoon Choi and stars Jang Hyuk as the protagonist, on his second collaboration after the forum´s  favourite The Swordsman.

Movie is a korean approach to the old Neesom Vengeance esque films, and oh boy it delivers. We got 3 fights against Bruce Khan, a couple one on many hallway fights, another couple skirmish, nice choreo, very well filmed nasty stunts and exciting shootouts (and I´m not a fan but really liked them here, despite the magical guns with unlimited ammo they managed to get). All in 95 mins. Plus we get some behind the screen footage with the rolling credits on some of stunts and fight choreo.

I got some old school korean kung fu vibes watching this one, as the leader man is as cold hearted bastard when he has to deal with the baddies. Must be a cultural thing of me not being able to read their diferent face expresions or whatever. The man delivers pain like he´s watching some boring TV stuff lol.

Korea´s giving us high quality stuff, maybe they have done more martial arts films in the 00s and 10s that I am not aware of? I mean, after City of Violence, The Revenger, The Swordsman and this one, this is all? I mean, it seems strange, they got not only the talent, but it seems they got the kind of taste and craftmanship to make fully physical action films. It´s strange without a soil base, if you get what I´m poorly trying to explain.

 

 

It´s on amazon and itunes.

 

[One Armed Boxer]

Just a heads up that this'll hit Blu-ray in the UK courtesy of CineAsia on April 3rd. Looking forward to checking it out!

 

[Yihetuan]

14 hours ago, One Armed Boxer said:

Just a heads up that this'll hit Blu-ray in the UK courtesy of CineAsia on April 3rd. Looking forward to checking it out!

 

I'm surprised that Well Go never picked this up for the North American market. This type of movie is right up their alley.

[ShaOW!linDude]

I watched this on Tubi last night. Some really hard-hitting and very grounded choreography in this. Great stuff.

[Drunken Monk]

I watched this for a second time today and liked it much, much more. This time around I enjoyed its simplicity and actually appreciated the action a lot more. The fight choreography really it stellar. It's brutal but more so, it's smart. He never wastes his chance to get one up on his opponents.

The last 40 minutes does have some lulls but they're not insultingly dull or anything. They flesh things out nicely.

The Killer may not be as dark or well made as the likes of I Saw the Devil or A Bittersweet Life but as a straight up action thriller, it's very good.