The Assassin (2023)

"Listening to your story isn't part of my job"

The Assassin aka Night of the Assassin appeared to have a small budget. The story relied heavily on Shin Hyun Joon as the titular character to carry this flick. The production values were low but there was still enjoyment to be had while watching it.

Yi Nan is a fierce and feared assassin who works for the highest bidder during a turbulent and chaotic time. He doesn’t make moral judgements on the targets, he just quickly and effectively takes them out. After visiting a doctor, he discovers he has a serious heart condition. It’s not long before everyone knows and “the weakened tiger is attacked by wolves.” Yi Nan disappears into the mountains to look for a specific herb that can heal his condition. He ends up working at a local tavern for a widow and her young son. In a corrupt world, he is drawn back into dealing out death. His only fear is that Death may finally catch up with him before he can accomplish his last mission.

Shin Hyun Joon made for an imposing assassin. I had trouble buying his overnight transformation but it was still fun to watch him avenge a critical death. Kim Min Kyung gave a nicely rounded performance as the widow who helps a stranger out and falls into danger with her son. The supporting cast gave wildly over-the-top performances. If not for the high body count this film almost amounted to a comedic parody of the genre. The villains, of which there were many, lacked any sense of menace, especially a female assassin and her strange voodoo abilities. The film veered wildly from comedy to deathly serious. The fight choreography ranged from quite good to blurry, shaky, what the heck is happening.

Night of the Assassin’s production values were quite low, most Kdramas have better camera work. There was a moral to the story, assassins were not to be glorified for they killed the innocent and the guilty. Yet Yi Nan’s skill with a sword and cooking knife were indeed glorified. If you don’t mind a low budget film and are in the mood for a strange rampage fueled assassin flick, The Assassin might fill that small niche.

20 January 2025

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Give this a chance!

Honestly, when this started, it looked like a TV film, had hammy acting, a B-movie script and the shots were so cliché, I wondered if I was watching a spoof.
5 minutes in and I already wanted to turn it off. After 10, I was wondering how the Hell this "crap" got made!

Since I had been recommended this by a mate whose opinion I trust, I pressed pause, made a cup of hot chocolate and tried to continue... As it turned out, this film is incredibly tongue-in-cheek, it knows what it is and neither apologises nor pretends to be anything else, instead, gleefully cheeses its way forward, since all the "play it straight" versions of this kind of story have been told over and over already!

Having recognised this, to my surprise, after 30 minutes, I was really into this film!
Where other tales like this rely on the action or pretty photography to make them excel, The Assassin shies away from all that as it purposely underplays itself, sticking to its corny ethos, making itself a thoroughly enjoyable feature without much fuss.

As I type this review, the film over less than 30 minutes ago, I can 100% say that, not only did I really like it, but I'd definitely watch a sequel!
Seriously: give this one a chance and you might just be as surprised as I was.

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