Rent The Villainess (2017)

Bravura cinema - The Villainess review by Alphaville

THE VILLAINESS ***** Bravura cinema

27 years after Luc Besson’s Nikita, writer/director Jung Byung-gil takes the same premise of a bad girl turned government assassin and comes up with a startling, twisting concoction of action and love story. In the pre-titles sequence alone, our heroine dispatches hordes of heavies in a single amazingly choreographed POV shot.

There’s so much to admire here, including some stunning compositions and beautiful scene transitions that indicate a director in love with the possibilities of film. The love story is delicately filmed and engaging. The action pieces are hectic and the restless camera draws you right into it. The frenetic chase sequences will make you gasp and have you wondering how they did it. Wonderful stuff.

There’s so much originality in this movie it must be like seeing Citizen Kane in the 1940s or Breathless in the 1960s. The DVD commentary by a couple of South Korean cinema buffs is equally fascinating and explains how some of the shots were filmed.

Loved it - The Villainess review by CP Customer

Brilliant film, great fighting and she was proper badass. Really liked the way they used the camera in this. Made you feel the action

Better for Asian audiences. - The Villainess review by CP Customer

I found it it confusing. I couldn't tell who was who, not helped by many of them being dressed the same. The opening sequence is rather like those shoot em up video games. I'll stick with Nikita.