So, what's Kill Boksoon all about? It's the story of a mom who slices people up by day and struggles to understand her teenage daughter by night. Kind of like John Wick, but with parent-teacher meetings thrown in. Boksoon handles contracts like a ninja, but her daughter? That's a whole different battlefield. Let me tell you, in this movie, the action isn't just on the job-it's also at home. Because raising a teenager? Way more violent than a katana to the guts.
The movie throws you into a world where hitmen operate like on-demand delivery services. The agencies are super organized, to the point where you almost want to drop off a resume. But behind the professional facade, it's Game of Thrones-backstabbing, plotting, and Boksoon in the middle, with her badass mom charisma. The only downside is that this world is barely touched on. You want to know more, to see how these agencies really function, but it's like you're only getting the appetizer without the main course.
Jeon Do-yeon delivers hard. She seamlessly transitions from smashing heads in one scene to arguing with her daughter in the next, and you totally buy it. The contrast is striking and gives her character depth. Boksoon is strong but also vulnerable, and that's where the movie nails it. She can annihilate anyone with a knife, but when it comes to talking to her teen? It's like she's playing Dark Souls on hardcore mode.
When the action hits, it hits hard. There are some killer fight scenes, but not enough for my taste. We know Boksoon is a deadly assassin, but I would've loved to see more of her "cleaning house" in her own brutal way. The film could have gone all-in with more missions, more fights. There are moments where you're left wanting more, like showing up for a feast and only getting appetizers. And the secondary characters? They're just there for decoration, barely fleshed out.
The mother-daughter relationship is the heart of the film. Boksoon tries to raise her daughter with her assassin's precision, but obviously, that doesn't work out. You can feel she's lost, and that's what makes her endearing. But at the same time, you realize parenting and guns don't exactly mix. The daughter is just as tough as her mom, and their verbal battles are just as intense as the physical ones. It's almost more dangerous than a shootout!
Kill Boksoon is a cocktail of action and family drama, with a heroine who makes you want to either adopt her... or run far, far away. There's fighting, there's emotion, but there's also the frustration of not seeing enough of the hitman world that could have been explored so much more. Despite that, it's still a good surprise. And if you're having trouble managing family life, watch Boksoon-you'll see even crime pros struggle with adolescence.
