The Villainess (惡女) is an 2017 film out of South Korea. The movie stars Kim Ok-vin and Shin Ha-kyun. The movie has been on Amazon Prime Video for much of pandemic, but I only recently decided to watch it.
The story begins with a massive fight in first person perspective. When she's done destroying everyone, she is recovered by a mysterious organization that gives her a second chance. Because she's pregnant, she decides to stay put and raise her daughter there. After years of training, she is given a chance at freedom if she is successful at a mission. The mission includes her daughter living a normal life. As this is developing, we find out her past and how she became such a skilled killer. It starts with her father who owed money but was killed for it. And from there, she was connected to another group of killers. When she goes on assignment, her old group finds her. Can she save herself, her daughter, and get freedom from her two killer groups?
This was a very action packed film. South Korean films have been able to consistently put out these dark noir action movies. This was something that HK and Japanese films well until 2010 or so. Since then, the output from SK has out paced HK and Japan. Thailand and Indonesia have put out films, but they are not as film noir.
The movie was very complicated because of the 4 storylines that rammed into each out over and over again. Luckily I was watching via Amazon Prime and could rewind. Sometimes the subs just scroll too fast.
Worth a watch if you're looking for an action packed film. If you're looking for feel good story, look elsewhere.
