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A Review of "The Villainess (2017)"

 

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The Villainess was a movie I heard about but I forgot to watch. I only remembered the movie because it was on James Gunn’s quarantine watch list. James Gunn is an amazing director since he directed the Guardians of the Galaxy movies which I love so I have huge trust in his taste. The trailer also gave me a female John Wick vibe and the John Wick movies are awesome so I decided to give this a watch. The basic synopsis of this movie is that Sook-hee (Kim Ok-vin) who was honed from childhood to be an elite assassin,  is given the chance to live a normal life. However, when two men from her past suddenly appear in her new life, it unlocks dark secrets that should’ve stayed hidden, and the fallout is swift and explosive.

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The action in this movie is phenomenal. It even starts with an impressive one shot, first person looking action scene that feels like it came from a video game. It is shot incredibly well with amazing choreography. There is also an amazing motorcycle chase/fight on the motorway with people on motorcycles with swords. Clearly, John Wick Chapter 3 motorcycle scene is HEAVILY inspired by this movie as they are both very similar in style and choreography but the Villainess did it first. There is also an incredible third act fight scene which then leads to an amazing car chase scene. These actions are filmed with such ferocity and intensity with the flabbergasting yet inventive stunts that makes it so thrilling to watch. The director and cinematography incorporates this through the use of frantic and sped up shots similar to that of Kingsman to make it more engaging and exciting. The cinematographer (Park Jung-hun) uses a lot of neon blue for the action scenes that makes the tone feel somber which contrasts the violent fights that are happening. It gives the action a weird sense of beauty in it which is the message this film goes for in its revenge tale and character motivation. The movie is also very gory with its spraying blood similar to that of Kill Bill that adds another element of enjoyment to the movie.

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The actors are also all very good with a lot of praise to the main actress Kim Ok-vin and Shin Ha-kyun who portrays Sook-hee assassin teacher Lee Joong-sang. Sook-hee is not a female John Wick like the trailer makes it seem like. Sook-hee is indeed a badass but also vulnerable at the same time which is in thanks to Kim Ok-vin performance. There are some emotional moments and Kim Ok-vin really sells the struggle of Sook-hee living a normal life with all these other characters and their dark secrets.  Shin Ha-kyun manages to be charming but also mildly creepy as Sook-hee teacher but also badass as well. The other actors in the movie give good performances as well and everyone felt different and unique which makes all the characters stand out in some way.

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The plot is also intriguing with all the secrets,twist and turns that Sook-hee finds out but…

The story is told in such a weird convoluted way. There are random flashbacks that will happen in the movie but they are in a chaotic, incoherent, fragmented order.  How I explain this is that most movies that have multiple flashbacks which occur in different parts of the movie would show the character going from point A to Point H which then leads into the beginning of the movie. The Villainess instead has flashback from point C first then point E then point B then point A etc…  

The movie also starts you straight in the action with no explanation whatsoever that leaves you relatively dumbfounded. It gets even more confusing when the flashback that happens is for something unrelated to the present day stuff. The editing for these flashbacks are just really weird and off-putting and it isn’t until near the end when all the flashbacks have occurred that things start to make a little sense. However, it really banks on the audience being able to piece these random flashbacks together and that is difficult if you give a flashback with no rhyme and reason. Additionally, character motivation isn’t super clear at times with a lot of characters being constantly vague. This is especially clear near the final act of the movie where a certain character doesn’t really clearly state their goals and it just seems thing happen because they need to.There is also a fair amount of moments I just found really dumb and the melodrama can be a bit over the top sometimes.

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Despite the weird nature of the plot, the movie offers a pure thrilling, kinetic, pulsing and bloody action movie with an enough depth in the story to keep it from being boring. The crazy stunts and awesome fights that inspired future action movies even in that of Hollywood, is enough motivation to give this movie a watch.


 

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