Lee Hye-yeong gives a performance for the ages as Hornclaw, an assassin in her 60's who is tasked with killing pests, those society deems vermin. She is broken and sliding toward her end, but still fighting the good fight. She ends up teamed with a young man named Bullfight, who may have his own agenda.
Based on a novel THE OLD WOMAN WITH THE KNIFE is an interesting variation of the old guy heading into the sunset. Here we have a woman and we have one that is very intent on taking out the grim reaper when he shows up rather than going quietly.
While the film has some great sequences, particularly in the very bloody, very bruising action sequences, the script is kind of all over the place. Flashbacks are not always inserted in the best places, breaking the forward flow of the story in order to fill us in. It's not fatal but it makes it difficult for the film to have momentum. It doesn't help that the plotting is a bit too covuluted and doesn't always make sense.
What does work and what makes the film a must is Lee Hye-yeong as the assassin from hell. She's a sweet old lady to a point and then she is a stone cold killer. Never mind her work here is at odds with her work for Hong Sang-soo, the real eye opener is she gives us a real person, who is beyond broken and still going forward. We know how bad she is physically and mentally and it makes what she does all the more amazing. Yea we've seen variations on the killer at the end but this is quite simply best that has ever been put on screen by a long way. Hye-yeong gives us character shading you never seen in a film like this. Oscar won't notice her but fans will and she will end up enshrined for all time as the greatest cinema assassin.
Recommended
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