You never know what you are going to get when you choose to watch a Korean action movie.  Will it be all violence and no plot?  Will you get bored because all there is going on is fighting (looking at you Wolf Warrior..) Come join Kmuse and Clkytta as they take a look at The Villainess then share their thoughts on whether this movie is worth a watch.

Trailer:

SYNOPSIS:

Seeking revenge on the people who killed her father, Soek-Hee has been raised to be an assassin.  After viciously killing a seemly endless group of gangsters, she is captured and forced into an undercover organization of sleeper assassins.  She refuses, but then she discovers that she’s pregnant and that changes everything…

THE PLOT:

Kmuse: Considering how much killing we have in this movie, the plot is pretty well done.  It made sense (more or less) and I understood her actions.  I do wish that we had a bit more development between her and Sung Joon’s character.  It felt a bit rushed.  All in all, I felt it was solid.

Clkytta: This movie begins with a bloodbath and it doesn’t get much cleaner from there. Normally, I would have already told Kmuse that I’m out, too gory for me, except while this one is bloody, it’s not overly gory, and the bloodbath makes sense.  The storyline is pretty solid, and I wouldn’t have minded seeing more of the relationships between all the characters.  There is a lot of character growth in this movie and I’m all for character growth.

CINEMATOGRAPHY:

Kmuse: While very innovative (think Kill Bill inspired) I sometimes got a little dizzy from the camera work.  I personally think that the spinning camera and odd angles gets tiring after a while.  Also, there were so many action scenes that I started to get bored.  Which is never a good thing when it is supposed to be the part of the movie where your heart is pounding.

Clkytta: I also got Kill Bill vibes from this movie. The way the camera moves in and out at the most obscure and oddest angles had me turning my head to try to see the scene straight.  The action scenes were intense, but there were so many of them that your reaction to them kind of dulls, I think the pacing of the action scenes could have been better.

CHARACTER OBSERVATIONS:

Kmuse: I really enjoy Kim Ok Vin as an actress and was happy that she was the lead in this movie.  She has the ability to make me both see the softness inside while being a cold-blooded killer.

Clkytta: Kim Ok Vin is a total bad ass in this movie. She nailed this role with her stoic face, but expressive eyes. I could see her attending a PTA meeting with cupcakes and then going out and gutting someone in the parking lot.

Kmuse: I feel that the use of Sung Joon was well utilized, despite my wish for more of his character.  It made me miss how much I used to love Sung Joon  before he did four or five dramas in a row that flopped for me.  Maybe if we all pray to the drama gods together he will somehow learn to choose better projects.

Clkytta: I love me some Sung Joon, but like Kmuse, I was really underwhelmed by his last few dramas. I literally did a happy dance when his goofy smile appeared and he wasn’t playing some high class, too smart for his own good, doctor or lawyer. His character reminded me more of my beloved Sweet Potato from I Need Romance 3.

Kmuse: I felt that we had no background to Kim Seo-Hyung’s character.  She was dynamic, tough, and strong but without knowing the reasoning behind her actions, she was just randomly there to move the plot along.

Clkytta: I wanted to know more about her! She was a multi-layered character that we had zero background on, and I felt like there was a scene that was cut somewhere explaining who she was and how she became the chief.

OVERALL REACTION:

Kmuse: It was a solid movie.  A little heavy on the action sequences and the spinning camera but I am still happy I watched.  I give it a 7/10.

Clkytta: I enjoyed it, and I’m not a big action movie fan. I’m giving it 8/10 simply because I loved that it reminded me of Kill Bill and that Sung Joon wasn’t in a role where he acted like a wooden puppet.

Til our next movie adventure,

The Fangirls
Dramas With a Side of Kimchi