Jeon Do-yeon is a killer mom in Kill Boksoon
by solstices
What’s harder than being a contract killer? Being a mom, apparently. Jeon Do-yeon (Crash Course in Romance) stars as the eponymous heroine of Netflix’s upcoming action film Kill Boksoon, who’s both an A-grade assassin and a single mom to a teenage daughter.
Of course, “killer-for-hire” doesn’t exactly look great on one’s resume, which means Bok-soon ends up bluffing about her occupation at a parent-teacher conference. She’s just a simple employee at an event-planning company! Totally on the right side of the law!
At her actual place of employment, Bok-soon is greeted by an arsenal of lethal weapons — as well as an excited bear hug from Esom (Taxi Driver), who plays Cha Min-hee. She’s the younger sister of Bok-soon’s boss and mentor Cha Min-gyu, played by Sol Kyung-gu (Yaksha: Ruthless Operations). Over tea, Bok-soon ponders over how she’s both a mom and a murderer — isn’t that just ironic, nurturing a life while ending countless others? It earns a fond chuckle from Min-gyu; after all, he has a soft spot for her, owing to her adroit capabilities and 100% kill rate.
Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for Bok-soon’s fellow hitman Han Hee-sung, played by Gu Kyo-hwan (Monstrous). Though he’s also exceptionally skilled, he still hasn’t been able to earn Min-gyu’s recognition, for reasons yet unknown to him.
Since our heroine is a killer, it goes without saying that we’ll get front-row seats to her kills. Bok-soon slits a man’s throat in front of an ardent audience, where Min-hee sits front and center. Min-hee’s amused, almost bloodthirsty grin is at odds with the banana milk she’s sipping, and I’m already intrigued by the unpredictable glint in her eye.
As the teaser winds to a close, Bok-soon fires her gun without an inch of hesitation, flippantly apologizing to her latest victim — see, she can’t afford to dilly-dally, the mart is about to close for the day. Ha, if the film keeps up this brand of dry humor, I’m definitely going to be very entertained.
Written and directed by Byun Sung-hyun (Kingmaker), Kill Boksoon will premiere at the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival later this month. Subsequently, it will be released via Netflix on March 31.
Via JTBC News, Newsis, Seoul Kyungje
RELATED POSTS
Tags: Esom, Gu Kyo-hwan, Jeon Do-yeon, Sol Kyung-gu
Required fields are marked *
Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *
1 Lord Cobol (Kdramas, like water, flow downhill)
February 2, 2023 at 3:53 PM
So, planning very special events... Which probably do need to be carefully planned.
Required fields are marked *
2 Observer
February 2, 2023 at 9:34 PM
The queen is so busy! Show 'em what you've got!
Required fields are marked *
3 Unaspirated
February 3, 2023 at 4:50 AM
This looks like it has the capacity to get added to my list of totally great Korean action films. I'll be there on premiere night!
Required fields are marked *
4 Kafiyah Bello
February 3, 2023 at 6:26 AM
I'm excited for this!!!
Required fields are marked *
5 Soyesterday
February 3, 2023 at 8:13 AM
She truly is one of the worlds best living actresses.
and she's got range with a capital R!!!!
Required fields are marked *
6 hacja
February 3, 2023 at 9:41 AM
Since I've almost totally inadvertently seen a lot of assassin movies, I predict this will go one of 3 ways:
1. The bloody black comedy route, where the Mom does what all competitive Korean moms apparently do, but uses her extraordinary skills--so we'll see her blowing the head off mean teachers, disemboweling her daughters rivals, and slashing the throats of boyfriends she deems inappropriate. The show will take pains to show that all the people she kills totally deserved it, therefore we can laugh at the casual brutality and oceans of fake blood.
2. The trauma-driven conscience stricken route. She will efficiently execute a teenage dissident on a contract from an authoritarian government, which will remind her of her daughter, and that will cause her to realize that while assassination is fun and all, its often not a good thing to kill people for money. The movie will show numerous bloody flashbacks of the girl dying, sometimes with the daughters face. This will cause her to quit the assassination business, only to be assassinated herself at the end, with the moral of the story being that assassination can lead to a heartbreaking rift between mother and daughter.
OR, most likely:
3. The fun action-adventure route, sprinkled with some feel-good comic scenes. The Mom will quit the assassination business, but then be pursued by other assassins, who she will fend off acrobatically, with the eventual help of her daughter, who when realizing her Mom is a cold blooded killer will at first be appalled, but then will realize her Mom was doing society's necessary dirty work. By the end the daughter too will be fighting off other assassins and displaying amazing marksmanship and knife skills, experiencing the joy of murdering people. The feel good ending will have Mother and Daughter united in a boutique assassination business, showing that murder for money is just one of many ways to overcome generation gaps and foster a loving family.
So I'm not going to watch this. But I will read the recap to see which of the assassin tropes this chooses.
Required fields are marked *
latebloomer
February 3, 2023 at 2:21 PM
No matter how you wrap it up, killing people for money shouldn't be glamorous, shouldn't be light-hearted, shouldn't be played for laughs. Just a big NO on this one.
Required fields are marked *
7 Viki
February 3, 2023 at 2:26 PM
I hope it's good. Netflix films don't have a rep for being good.
Required fields are marked *
8 TeaTimeandCrime
February 3, 2023 at 7:01 PM
Uggggh I love her so much, I'm so in.
Required fields are marked *
9 loveblossom🌸
February 3, 2023 at 7:03 PM
Had no idea bout this movie, but Jeon Do Yeon has me intrigued.
The tone is something... Not sure if I like it.
I bet the violence will be too bloody for me. >_<
Required fields are marked *
10 The Kdrama Enthusiast
February 4, 2023 at 12:52 PM
Jeon Do-yeon and Esom? Yes please. I'm excited for this because I cannot bring myself to watch Crash Course in Romance, thanks to the male lead. So it'll be great to finally be able to watch her in something again.
And Gu Kyo-hwan? I absolutely adore him. However, I'm not sure how I feel about the assassin bit. It'll probably be hard to root for her (unless she's offing human traffickers and child abusers).
Required fields are marked *