ASSASSINATION reviewed; showing tonight at NY Korean Film Festival

Assassination

Directed by CHOI Dong-hoon

South Korea, 2015, 140 minutes

When: Saturday, November 7, 2015 at 8:55 PM

Where: Museum of the Moving Image (MoMI)

36-01 35th Avenue, Astoria, Queens, NY 

Set primarily in 1933, when Korea was a colony of Japan, Assassination tells the tale of three Koreans tasked by the Korean Provisional Government with a deadly mission. The three are sharpshooter Ahn Okyun (actress Gianna Jun, a.k.a. JUN Ji-hyun, Blood: The Last Vampire, The Thieves), Chu Sang-ok  (also known as "Big Gun"), and Hwang Duk-am (CHOI Deok-moon, The Admiral). Their targets are Japanese general Kawaguchi Mamoru, who led the massacre of over 3,000 Koreans in Manchuria, and Kang In-guk, the leading pro-Japanese lapdog.

Ahn expects the operation to take five minutes and for the three to come back alive. Unfortunately, the plan goes awry because there is a traitor within the ranks of the Korean Provisional government. He has arranged for a team of hit men, "Hawaii Pistol (HA Jung-woo, Kundo: Age of the Rampant) and his partner (played by OH Dal-soo, Oldboy, The Attorney).

Director CHOI Dong-hoon's is perhaps best know in the West for his 2012 hit The Thieves, which was Korea’s biggest box office hit of that year. His other films are The Big Swindle (2004), Tazza: The High Rollers (2006) and Woochi (2009). Gianna Jun and LEE Jung-jae, who stars as resistance fighter Captain Yem in Assassination, both starred in The Thieves.

Assassination is a beautiful period piece with great acting, opulent sets and terrific action sequences, especially a lengthy shoot-out at a wedding. It has exciting plot twists and makes for great entertainment.

AsianCineFest Rating: 4 out of 4 stars; most highly recommended.

This screening of Assassination is part of The 13th Annual New York Korean Film Festival.