Director: Min Kyu-dong
Year: 2025
Country: South Korea
Alternate Titles: Pagwa
Genre: Action/Thriller
Plot:
Trying to deal with her career, a veteran assassin fearing that her best days are behind her when the natural signs of aging start to infest her daily life, finds herself trying to care for an upcoming assassin she feels emotionally connected to. When a series of incidents forces her to come to terms with her past catching up to her, but the ruthless new figures in the game, hoping to use her to get to her protege, she finds herself drawn back to her old life once again in a desperate quest to save herself and her friend.
Review:
Overall, this was a solid if somewhat problematic feature. One of the better elements within this one is the highly emotional storyline that provides a striking connection to our main protagonist. Given the exploits of the backstory where the woman is revealed to be a figure that’s done this for decades and has had her legacy cemented through a reputation for handling her business without fail, yet when that leaves her surviving into old age and the crippling effects on a body naturally in that condition start to appear the idea of how long it can continue starts to emerge. That bleeds over into the mentorship role that comes about, where she tries to not let the advancing age or burgeoning emotional restrictions keep her from her job that soon grows extra weary by the arrival of the other killer at the agency, finding her approach far more troublesome than it’s worth. It’s a fantastic setup that helps to take an impactful look at aging and the fear of a lack of usefulness as we get older, especially in women, which brings this connection home quite prominently in the first half.
When it comes to the action, it’s a little lacking, with most of the frenetic activity confined to the latter half. With just a few brief spurts to showcase her skills with various minor assassinations or just escaping from a situation unharmed, there’s enough not to be somewhat enjoyable, but those wanting more of a high-end action-packed thriller might find the pacing staggered and challenging at times. The excessive length focusing plenty of time on the relationship status between the two of them or the different modes of their job, which is quite rough on the tempo, going for the kind of extended character development and in-depth background on everything that this one does. By the time it finally gets to the hard-hitting, explosive shootout and hand-to-hand brawling that the finale requires this to have, the film is quite fun, with the generated action getting some fun moments throughout here that make for a much better finish to this one than how it starts. However, as this is the main issue here, it’s not in the slightest bit damaging even if it does bring it down.
Overview: ***.5/5
A rather fun and generally solid action/thriller, there’s quite a lot to enjoy here, which helps to make for an enjoyable time while being let down only slightly by the few flaws on display. Those with an appreciation for this style or approach to genre fare will have the most to like here, while those turned off by the issues on display will want to heed caution here.
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