The Assassin
Director: Kwak Jeong-deok
Year: 2023
Rating: 7.0
Country: Korea
Aka - The Night of the Assassin
This satisfying Korean period sword fighting
film has shades of Shane but with a much higher body count. I just learned
(by reading another review) that these types of films are called Muhyeop
in Korea, not to be confused with wuxia in China. Just don't ask me how to
pronounce it. But don't be expecting a high flying elegant action film with
intricate choreography. It is closer to a Jimmy Wang-yu style of mass killing.
Or perhaps Chanbara in which the fights never go on for long. Swing the sword
- make your moves - and people die. Initially after the first burst of deaths,
it appears to be turning into a low-level quaint fish out of water comedy
of amusing country folk and corrupt officials - but don't get used to it.
On the proverbial dime, it turns into a brutal series of killings and the
light comedy is only a memory. Which I am grateful for. I don't come to a
film titled Assassin or also known as Night of the Assassin for laughs. I
ended up getting what I needed. Sure, the action could have been a bit more
suspenseful and well-shot, but I didn't feel cheated. This isn't Chor Yuen.
Hong Kong film fans have been spoiled,
Lee Nan (Shin Hyeon-jun - best known I think
for the Marrying the Mafia film series) is - we are told in a beginning narration
- the most feared assassin in the Joseon period. No one escapes his blade.
They might beg or try to bribe him but once money has exchanged hands between
him and the employer, there is no mercy shown. It's bad for business if you
do. After his most recent target is taken care of - as well as his bodyguards
- he nearly collapses. A bad heart. The doctor tells him it won't take much
to die - stay away from fighting and sex. Easy for me perhaps, but he goes
home and begins to ravish a lovely woman (Lee Jung-min) but then she tries
to kill him. A price is on his head. But he instead pokes her eye out giving
her an Elle Driver look.
With everyone knowing his identity, he travels
far up north to a small rural hick town where he hopes to blend in. Of course,
assassins never blend in. He helps a woman about to get hit by a man and
then allows himself to be beaten instead. She (Kim Min-kyeong) takes pity
on this loser who is as closed-mouthed about his past as a mute clam - and
gives him a job at her small restaurant. Hey, look she tells her young son,
he can carry soup bowls without spilling any. The boy tells him that someday
he wants to be an assassin and kill bad guys. It's not only bad guys they
kill, he responds. This slow peaceful life comes to an abrupt end when two
bandits come for a meal and the boy identifies one of them as the man who
killed his father. And tries to stab him.
The two men decide to cut off the boy's
arm and Lee Nan intervenes and they find out that not spilling soup is not
his only skill. From this point on it is balls to the walls killing - a corrupt
official (Lee Mun-shik - one of my favorite comic Korean actors - but nothing
funny here) in cahoots with the mountain bandits comes after him. And our
one-eyed girl shows up to finish the job. Someone is paying her too. Like
Shane had to pull out his gun again, Lee has to pick up his sword that he
had hidden. Time to go to work. I don't know if the film did well enough
at the box office to have a sequel but this seemed to set one up. I would
welcome it.
