‘Kill Boksoon’: A Vivid Violent, Wonderfully Heartfelt, Yet Sometimes Draining Action Film

Kill Boksoon, Netflix’s latest Korean action film released on March 31st, is written and directed by Byun Sung-hyun and stars Jeon Do-yeon as Gil Boksoon, also known by her alter ego of sorts, Kill Boksoon, as a highly skilled assassin with years of experience under her belt who struggles to reconcile her dangerous profession with her life as a mom to her reclusive teenage daughter. The film can best be described as John Wick meets The Sopranos type of story. It pulls its draws its elements of world-building and action choreography from the former title while drawing its concept of the parent who lives a secret and dangerous life from the latter. It is also the latest project to come from Netflix as the streamer looks to increase its investment in its production of Korean content following the success of the platform’s other titles such as Squid Game and Space Sweepers. Byun stated that he had always wanted to work with Jeon, who has been primarily known for her role in dramas such as Secret Sunshine and The Shameless. The director also stated that pertaining to the premise of the film, he was inspired by the actress’ own daily life as a big-name talent in the Korean film industry and how she attempted to balance out such a demanding career with being a mother to her own teenage daughter. Therefore, it was inevitable that that immensely relatable human struggle ultimately became the crux of the film.

Does the film explore and flesh out that type of volatile lifestyle effectively? It certainly tries its best and for the most part it does. As we follow Jeon’s character, Boksoon, repeatedly attempting to get her daughter, Jae-yeong, to open up to her and tell her what’s going on, we get that reclusive teenager attitude we are familiar with. Throughout the film, we see Boksoon really trying to look out for her daughter while at the same time wanting to understand her a bit better without being too judgmental. As a mother, she feels stuck in that no matter what she says to her daughter, nothing will get her out of her shell. What also haunts her as a mother is the trauma of her own childhood and her upbringing of living with her abusive father. Boksoon clearly wants to do everything in her power to make sure that she does not become that kind of parent to her own daughter. As a result, she has those intrusive thoughts telling her that she does not know what to say to her daughter or how to say it. And actress Kim Si-a does a thoroughly superb job of portraying a fifteen-year-old girl looking for acceptance and a sense of belonging, not only from her mom but also from those she goes to school with as well. What Boksoon often fails to realize, as some other characters tell her throughout the film, is that maybe she is also keeping up walls from her daughter as well. Enter Mom’s secret career as a skilled and distinguished assassin.

One of the areas where the film excels, perhaps unexpectedly, is in the art of world-building. As mentioned earlier, much of the world-building in the film feels very similar to that is done in the John Wick film franchise with the entire underground syndicate world surrounding the Continental and the High Table. As an assassin, Boksoon works for a single company where she carries out contracts, which are referred to as shows. The company she works for, titled MK, is a large conglomerate with almost a monopoly on the industry and asserts itself as a body of authority over the many smaller independent companies. MK has its own ranking system pertaining to contracts as well as its own employees, its own training program, and its own corporate synergy. Part of how Byun effectively thrusts us into this is underground assassin world is without beating us over the head with exposition and background information is his utilization of various supporting characters within the company. Among them are Chairman Cha, the CEO of the company played by Sol Kyung-gu, and his younger sister, Min-hee, the head director of the company, played by Esom. These two characters not only have different roles to carry out within the company but also different approaches and visions as to the direction of the company, pertaining to the subject of Gil Boksoon in particular. Another character who was interesting to follow in the film was Hee-seong, a rising young assassin in the company who feels animosity towards the company for not giving him a shot to rise through the ranks as well as towards their crackdown on assassins not belonging to a company. The character, played by Koo Kyo-hwan, carries a heavy desire to prove himself as well as his own incentive for himself to increase his rank, get better contracts, and thus better pay. Koo effectively encapsulates these elements of the character into the screen time he’s given. In addition to showing us the world of MK without excessive info dumping, what is also commendable about Byun’s incorporation of multiple characters with their own goals and backstories is how smoothly and naturally they all blended in with each other. With multiple subplots and story arcs, the narrative of the film could have easily been a muddled and convoluted mess that would have been difficult to follow and keep up with. Thankfully, that was not the case. Every decision made, every character choice, naturally leads into the others and creates a nuanced and layered sequence of events that are (mostly) captivating to watch.

To make sure these areas don’t get overlooked, one of the most effective tools utilized during the film, especially during the action sequences, was the color palette. Throughout the entire film, the color contrast, being as stark as it was, brought the life and vividness of many scenes up to another level, which is exactly what you hope for in an action movie. Speaking of the action scenes, they were fast, bloody, and exciting. Some of the fight sequences are even done with very few takes and, when mixed with the gunfights and knife slashing, make for a series of fun moments in this film. The music, excluding a couple of songs included that did not really work or add anything to their respective scenes, gave these scenes an even bigger adrenaline pump, assuming they needed anymore at all.

All this said, there were still some elements of the film that did not quite work. On a minor note, there were a couple of close-ups that felt a bit weird to look at and did not really try to turn out any emotional reaction or response, something which close-ups are primarily used for. Whatever the cinematographer’s intention was in including these close-ups was not made clear at all. Thankfully, however, these moments are few throughout the film. There were also a couple of character inconsistencies that did not make sense within a broader context. For instance, to be as vague as possible to avoid going into spoilers, one would think that a highly skilled assassin seasoned with years of experience under her belt would remember to keep her phone off during a job. But perhaps the biggest area of weakness with the film is its struggle with pacing. When trying to draw out and milk tension in a certain scene, especially one towards the climax of the film, then it will understandably run a little longer than others. However, this was the case with many scenes throughout the entirety of the film. Whenever a scene within the film, whether it would be a phone call or a conversation between two of the characters, would reach its point and accomplish its goal, it felt as if it would be drawn out even further to make sure no element of suspense is wasted. However, this had the opposite effect and often put these scenes in danger of becoming boring, causing viewers to nearly lose interest in the story.

At the end of the day, this was a story about how someone in an unconventional profession can manage life as a single parent and the film explored that dynamic pretty well. The world is fascinating, the characters are fleshed out and believable, the action is exciting, the various relationships carry weight to them, and despite a few pacing and plot issues, Kill Boksoon is an entertaining and engaging addition to Netflix’s catalog of Korean original films.