Driven by a linear plot and often-preposterous scenarios, The Villainess is a relentless violent showcase of human limitations and how dire circumstances can help one to go beyond them and achieve unbelievable miracles.
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Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. South Korean action thriller The Villainess is a fine display of what could happen if one offends a lady - wicked bloodshed and violence.
Directed and co-scripted by Jung Byung-gil, the eye-opening scene from the first frame strikes the audience with its ambition and approach. Observed through the protagonist’s point of view, it reminds one of a well polished and planned Hardcore Henry as the character slayed corridors of armed gangsters with pistols and knives.
Just when viewers can almost imagine a badass hero like Jung Jae-young or Lee Byung-hun, the film reveals a determined petite lady in biker leather jacket. There can be no better way to introduce the female assassin than a pure action extravaganza before slapping on the film title.
Waking up in a secret facility with cosmetic surgery performed, Sook-hee (Kim Ok-bin) has a second chance in life to work as a secret operative. If James Bond is licensed to kill, Sook-hee is born to annihilate. This is proven with a few more elaborate action scenes carefully shot and edited into an exhilarating pace that runs at frames per second.
The Villainess may be a rapid burst of action that is at times messy to watch, but every shot is structured according to what appears to be a painstaking plan. The technical excellence is soaring and will be the obvious appeal for most viewers and genre fans. Viewers will be clenching tight fists at the edge of their seats.
Underneath Sook-hee’s cute and cold demeanour is a complex personality that is constantly on guard against everyone in her life. The moment she lets it down, she drowns in anguish and regrets letting people into her life. This very sense of desolation picks her right back up to claw her way back at adversity.
Despite seeing Sook-hee engaging in a chilling burst of crazed violence throughout most of the film’s 124 minutes, every single blow she delivers is decisive and concise without any instinctive outburst of profanity (which tends to happen when people unleash their anger). She knows what she wants and what she’s doing. A great mix of determination and adrenaline is what edges a badly wounded Sook-hee to chase after her aggressors with a fire axe.
This is a reflection of vengeance and something beyond where she turns into the antagonist of her antagonist - The Villainess.
Driven by a linear plot and often-preposterous scenarios, The Villainess is a relentless violent showcase of human limitations and how dire circumstances can help one to go beyond them and achieve unbelievable miracles.
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