The Villainess (5 Stars)

I don't know why this film is called "The Villainess". Sook-hee, pictured above, isn't a bad person. The people around her are the villains, not her.

Admittedly, Sook-hee kills 59 men in the film's first five minutes, before we even find out her name, but that doesn't make her a bad person. We find out later that she was getting revenge on the gang responsible for her husband's death. She did what any other woman would have done. She grabbed her guns and her knives and went on a killing spree. When she was finished she surrendered to the police. But that's just the beginning.

At the eight and a half minute mark we see the title screen, as shown above. According to the subtitles this word means "Villainess". Is that correct? Do I have any Korean readers who can verify it?

Sook-hee never goes on trial. The newspapers report that she committed suicide before she could be arrested. She finds herself in a secret facility surrounded by other young women. They're all being trained as assassins, although after seeing Sook-hee's initial performance it doesn't look like she needs much training. The organisation is never named, it's just called the Agency. They're the good guys, or so they claim. They have very doubtful methods to reach their goals. It's similar to the film "Nikita" and even more similar to the TV series based on it, "La Femme Nikita".

After her training is complete she's allowed to move out and live a normal life. She finds a career as a stage actress. All that's expected is that for the next seven years she carries out assignments whenever necessary. After that she's free to go.

Sook-hee's first assignment is an easy success. The second assignment causes problems. The man she's told to kill looks like her dead husband. Is it possible it really is her husband?

Ironically, the second assignment is on the day of her second wedding. She doesn't even have time to change out of her dress. Her new husband is a nice young man that she met the day after she left the Agency. What she doesn't know is that he's really an Agency employee who has been assigned to look after her. That crosses the line of decency, in my opinion.

I've never liked Korean films, but this is different. It well deserves its five star rating.

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