OLD WOMAN WITH THE KNIFE, THE
(director/writer: Min Kyu-dong; screenwriter: Kim Dong-wan/based on the novel by Gu Byeong-mo; cinematographer: Lee Jae-woo; editor:Jeong Ji-eun; music: Kim Jin-seong; cast: Hyeyoung Lee (Hornclaw), Kim Sung-cheol (Bullfight), Kim Moo-yul (Ryu), Yeon Woo-jin (Dr. Kang), Mitch Craig (Attacking soldier Richard), Shin Sia (Young Hornclaw); Runtime: 131; MPAA Rating: NR; producer: Min Jin-soo; Well Go USA Entertainment/Soo Films; 2025-S.Korea-in Korean with English subtitles)
“Sours after its tasty premise.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
South Korean filmmaker Min Kyu-dong (“All About My Wife”/”All For Love”) directs this contract killer action film that sours after its tasty premise. It’s based on the 2013 novel by South Korean author Gu Byeong-mo. The director co-writes it with Kim Dong-wan.
The contract killer is a 65-year-old female, who goes by the code name Hornclaw (Hyeyoung Lee). In her old age, the assassin is slowing down and becoming more vulnerable, even as her mission in life still is to rid the world of the irredeemable, the “human vermin,” as she’s supported in her endeavors by her underground Pest Control organization of assassins.
Hornclaw’s threatened by the young upstart street-wise assassin nicknamed Bullfight (Kim Sung-cheol), who was present 25 years ago when she killed his father. But he remembers she was the only one at the time who showed him any kindness, and he will repay her for that by later on saving her life.
There are a series of flashbacks dating back to 1975, when as a teenager she killed an American soldier (Mitch Craig) attacking her in a snowy alleyway. There are many flashbacks used to explain some of the details about how and why she became a contract killer. Unfortunately the flashbacks bring about too many interruptions that kill the film’s flow and add too many contrived subplots.
What stands out is Hornclaw’s skill in using a poisoned knife.
One of the highlight scenes is the massacre at a derelict amusement park, which is executed in a stylish and imaginative way.
Hornclaw functions with a chronic medical condition that her colleague’s are unaware of. In the climax, she takes on 3 assignments: an underground subway hit, eliminating a creepy corporate head and cleaning up the mess left by a former comrade going rogue.
It’s a choppy and plodding film, but the acting is forceful and its ageing commentary is right-on. It lost me at times, but never completely.
It played at the Berlin Film Festival.
REVIEWED ON 5/9/2025 GRADE: B-
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