Assassination

The plot to assassinate Japanese high ranking officers takes a group of Korean agents into spiral of betrayal. It is told in surprisingly large scale, shifting back and forth to events preceding and following its historic attempt told by numerous characters. In heart, it is an excellent drama with focus on stylish noir cinematography and slick visceral action.

Story admittedly takes a bit to gain momentum. There's an intricate web of espionage and it might get overwhelming with its many timelines and characters. The back stabbing or direct front shooting could get confusing early on. Fortunately, after it sets the foundation the pace pushes forward relentlessly until the end. Ji-hyun Jun as An Ohk-Yun the lady sniper is impeccable, she's attractive on-screen and also looking very capable for the demanding spy role.

Acting is great all around, considering there are many intersecting personalities, everyone plays their part amicably and these characters are presentably memorable. It offers a few subplots, which might seem overly dramatic or cliché at first, although the presentation is adequately precise in ensuring that it remains a legitimate drama thriller.

The action is superb, capitalizing its last century setting and multitude of fancy oriental scenes. Barrage of bullets and deception are portrayed with massive intensity. It plays with fight scenes as well as gun-slinging action remarkably well. Furthermore, the slick nature resembles the quirky bloody showing from Tarantino movies, the flamboyant flair is a treat for action fans.

There's no lack of treachery, vengeance and sheer animosity in the harsh era which may feel overburdened at times. Still, with exquisite human drama and solid action, Assassination keeps the aim steady to deliver a delightfully exhilarating spy thriller.

The always entertaining Gianna Jun headlines Assassination, a thrilling historic drama set during the 1930s in Japanese Occupied Korea. An OK-Yoon (Jun) is an expert marksman released from prison to execute a daring plot. Hired by Yeom Suk-Jin (Lee Jung-Jae), she is to take Soksapo (Cho Jin-Woong) and Hwang Deok-Sam (Choi Duk-Moon) to Seoul, where they will terminate Kang In-Gook (Lee Kyoung-Young), a vile Japanese sympathizer.

At the same time, Hawaii Pistol (Ha Jung-Woo) and his accomplice Younggam (Oh Dal-Su), two expert assassins who care only for profit, are hired to eliminate the assassination team, though problems arise when Hawaii Pistol confronts OK-Yoon, and finds himself torn between his mission, and a possible future with his beautiful target.

Unlike Choi-Dong Hoon's The Thieves, where audiences were left guessing which characters had nefarious agendas, the director in this instance reveals the identity of the traitor almost immediately. This however, does not come at the expense of the plot, as we watch how the villain manipulates other characters, and eventually begins to psychologically suffer from living a treacherous existence. Often during the film, audiences are privy to information that characters are denied, and though we acknowledge interconnections between characters that even they know nothing of, further details could have been provided to flesh out the heroes and antagonists alike. As an example, though clues are provided as to why OK-Yoon was given a prison-sentence, a definitive answer is never provided.

Again, unlike The Thieves, the use of humorous dialogue is kept to a minimum, accentuating the morbid tone the film primarily exhibits. The action scenes moreover are very entertaining, heightened by the settings, that are occasionally rarely seen in such a genre, the explosions and gun battles that take place dazzling the screen. At the same time though, these scenes predominately transpire later, the film being more of a war drama, than an action film.

Assassination is set over several decades, the way the multiple narratives intersect to reveal how moments shape the plot, alongside character's lives, accentuating the story. At the same time however, the stereotypical Korean melodrama does render the film predictable, poignant moments in the narrative being capitalized to gather emotive reactions from viewers, the resulting consequences being very foreseeable, which diminishes some of the film's more powerful moments.

The feature is a very typical war film, in that it represents only one side of the confrontation, in this case, the Koreans, who are portrayed as sympathetic victims. This is heightened by the villainous qualities of the antagonists, Japanese soldiers like Kawaguchi (Park Byung-Eun) being visualized as deranged murderers, whose loathsome deeds render them inhuman.

There are occasional moments of beauty to be had over the film, however, much of Assassination demonstrates the horrific violence that transpires, condemning such actions, while embracing the belief, those who can do good, should vehemently do so. Despite The Thieves being a more enjoyable film, Assassination will certainly stay with you, long after it has finished.

This is a marvelous film about the Japanese oppression suffered by the Koreans over 4 decades. Most of the film is set in 1933 during an assassination attempt on a Korean collaborator and a Japanese official responsible for horrors inflicted on the Koreans in Manchuria in 1931.

The central character is a sniper for the Korean Independence Army (Jun Ji-hyun) who takes on the assignment. The film is filled with all sorts of interesting characters, with names like "Hawaii Pistol" and "Big Gun", and there are double crosses and even triple crosses along the way.

The photography is terrific, the atmosphere is nostalgic, and even the music adds to the film's value. Writer-Director Choi Dong hoon keeps the acting moving right along.

Rather than merely an assassination film, this is more of a story of relationships, and at the core is one family's journey through the tumultuous times, although you may not recognize this at first.

The subtitles are a little hard to read, and some of the characters are hard to tell apart, but otherwise this is an excellent film. I was particularly taken with the acting of Jun Ji-hyun and Ha Jung- woo

It's another amazing film from Korea.

There was a lot of stuff to take in, that could be overwhelming for someone like me who has to use subtitles to keep up.

A lot of sub stories were going on around the main story of Japanese occupation of Korea.

Lucky for me the film making was very visual, the best way to weave a movie so it was not hard to understand everything that was going on and there was a lot, but it all fit together beautifully.

The cinematography was well done as well as the costumes designs and I loved the action sequences. There was scenes that used CGI, but they did not over use it which is done too much in pictures.

Very impressive.

Based on real events, this may seem a bit convoluted at times, but still very engaging to watch. You can feel the desperation and the pressing times this is portraying. The introduction of the characters takes its time and still sometimes you wonder what the real motives are behind some of the actions being done here.

Still the action is well shot and choreographed, which is crucial, but the drama bits work too. The pace is nicely done and you almost don't feel this is a long movie at all. The ending might be a bit over dramatized, but it should work with most viewers, especially after the journey we just went through.