Korean crime action films have always had a high standard, and many famous actors have been releasing their unique works one after another. From last year’s ‘Night in Paradise’ and ‘Hostage: Missing Celebrity’ to this year’s ‘The Roundup’ by Tong-Seok Ma and ‘Special Delivery’ by Park So-tae, this time ‘The Killer: A Girl Who Deserves to Die’ starring Hyuk Jang This year, after ‘Special Delivery’ by Tong-Seok Ma and ‘Special Delivery’ by Park So-tae, this time ‘The Killer: A Girl Who Deserves to Die’ (더 킬러: 죽어도 되는 아이)starring Hyuk Jang is a story about a killer who comes back to the world and gives the audience an exciting experience.
If we are a retired killer who has retired from the world for many years, living a peaceful and uncontested life with our previously accumulated wealth, what would make us voluntarily step forward and make the decision to risk our lives for others?
I think the only possibility is that one’s loved one was hurt or saw an innocent girl being kidnapped, right?
Hyuk Jang, 45, who was once called “Woo-sung Jung Jr.”, is not only a close friend of Kim Jong Kook, but also an older actor who has acted in various types of movies and dramas and has won many awards for his acting skills.
In ‘The Killer: A Girl Who Deserves to Die’, he takes on the persona of Ui-gang, a retired killer who goes on a killing spree to protect girls, and shows his unique personal charm in many clean fights.
Since his wife was on a trip with her best friend, his 17-year-old daughter Kim Yun Ji was naturally entrusted to Ui-gang, who was alone at home, to take care of her.
However, the task of ‘The Killer: A Girl Who Deserves to Die’, which was thought to be quite easy, went unexpectedly wrong when Kim Yun Ji got into trouble outside.
She goes from originally hanging out with her friends in Hongdae to being threatened by delinquents and even kidnapped, which leads Hyuk Jang to take action and confront her opponents who are hiding in the shadows.
Therefore, just like ‘The Man From Nowhere’ starring Bin Won in 2010, ‘The Killer: A Girl Who Deserves to Die’ focuses on Ui-gang trying to investigate the whereabouts of Kim Yun Ji and unraveling the mystery and huge power behind it, which gives the whole movie a sense of suspense and curiosity to the audience.
Along the way, he faces many criminals who try to obstruct him. As a top killer, Ui-gang uses a variety of different weapons such as fists, kicks, knives and guns to create exciting action scenes.
As a restricted crime action movie, ‘The Killer: A Girl Who Deserves to Die’ the main point of the whole film is those violent and full of cool action scenes.
This film is Hyuk Jang after the 2020 ‘The Age of Blood’ again with the director Jae-Hoon Choi, not only is more than 90% of the action scenes of the film are personal, he is almost not using a body double.
The pseudo one-shot fight and the quick resolution of the opponent like a god of killing also make ‘The Killer: A Girl Who Deserves to Die’ a signature.
I believe that both fans who like Hyuk Jang and those who wish to get pleasure from it will not be disappointed.
Only in addition to the recent rare restricted fights, ‘The Killer: A Girl Who Deserves to Die’ the film is special in that the director wanted to do more.
Whether it’s retaining the homage to the classic ‘The Man From Nowhere’, or trying to create an underground noir worldview like ‘John Wick’, to the background of the characters, all show the writer-director’s full ambition.
Therefore, using the kidnapping of a female high school student as the theme, the director included in ‘The Killer: A Girl Who Deserves to Die’ the dark side of society including school bullying, underage sex trade, transnational crime, police corruption and many other issues of concern.
‘The Killer: A Girl Who Deserves to Die’ further reinforces the dangers that these problems can cause through the immature age of adolescence, when the victims are active and restless, their bodies are transformed into adults, but their minds are still children, and they give ‘A Child Who Can Die’ a deeper meaning and a direction that can be developed.
However, unfortunately, ‘The Killer: A Girl Who Deserves to Die’ is only 95 minutes long, which is not enough to make a detailed introduction to the background.
This leads to the above-mentioned layouts become a little casual in addition to the entire film’s narrative and editing is too jumpy, ‘The Killer: A Girl Who Deserves to Die’ ultimately failed to play the effect that the story should have, seems a little top-heavy.
Perhaps the ‘The Killer: A Girl Who Deserves to Die’ ending allows Ui-gang’s wife to make a connection with the young girl who commissioned him to kill herself, allowing Hyuk Jang’s character, a killer who retires with regrets, to be comforted and redeemed by saving another innocent girl.
But ‘The Killer: A Girl Who Deserves to Die’ puts most of the focus on the action scenes, the whole film lacks the emotional support behind it, it may leave the audience confused, but also greatly reduces the strength of the theme to be conveyed.
On the whole, ‘The Killer: A Girl Who Deserves to Die’ revolves around a retired killer who goes on a killing spree to save a kidnapped girl with his awakened killer instincts, with clean action scenes in which Hyuk Jang shows the irreplaceable charm of a Korean uncle actor.
But compared to other high-profile films, ‘The Killer: A Girl Who Deserves to Die’ shows more and more fatigue later on.
Whether the director’s anemic narrative approach, or Ui-gang all the time to hold a paper cup handsome play melancholy design, the whole film becomes cheap and deliberate, can only say quite a pity.
