Kill Boksoon

"A life of lies can kill."

2023 2h 17m KO

👍

6.9

SOLID

🍅

79%

FRESH

👌

METACRITIC

⭐

6.6

IMDB

★6.9TMDB · 577🍅79%Rotten Tomatoes●67Metacritic★6.6IMDB · 15,838

ActionDramaThrillerCrime

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

At work, she's a renowned assassin. At home, she's a single mom to a teenage daughter. Killing? That's easy. It's parenting that's the hard part.

“A life of lies can kill.”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Jeon Do-yeon
Gil Bok-soon
Sul Kyung-gu
Cha Min-kyu
Kim Sia
Gil Jae-young
Esom
Cha Min-hee
Koo Kyo-hwan
Han Hee-sung
Kim Seung-oh
Shin
Lee Yeon
Kim Young-ji
Hwang Jung-min
Kim Gwang-il / Shinichiro Oda

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Byun Sung-hyun
Writers: Byun Sung-hyun
Languages: English, Japanese, Korean, Russian
Countries: South Korea

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 3 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 4 languages: English, Japanese, Korean, Russian.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Kill Boksoon Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Byun Sung-hyun, shot by Cho Hyoung-rae. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Kim Hong-jip. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Kim Sang-bum shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Jeon Do-yeon and Sul Kyung-gu and Kim Sia carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "A life of lies can kill.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Byun Sung-hyun directs. Cho Hyoung-rae behind the camera. Kim Hong-jip scores. Kim Sang-bum cuts. Produced in South Korea. Dialogue in English, Japanese, Korean, Russian.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Released 3 years ago.
2Dialogue crosses 4 languages: English, Japanese, Korean, Russian.
3Part of the "Kill Boksoon Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
4Directed by Byun Sung-hyun, shot by Cho Hyoung-rae. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Kim Hong-jip. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Kim Sang-bum shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Jeon Do-yeon and Sul Kyung-gu and Kim Sia carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "A life of lies can kill.".
9IMDB entry: tt16900880 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 8 themes, including "assassin", "hitman", "hitwoman", "single mother".
11Released under 35 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Cho Hyoung-rae
Original score: Kim Hong-jip
Editing: Kim Sang-bum
Production design: Han Ah-rum
Costume design: Kim Jung-won
Makeup / hair: Kwon Su-kyung
Sound: Kim Byung-in
Runtime: 137 min · 2h 17m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Original language: KO
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Kill Boksoon (2023)
Rotten Tomatoes: 79% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 67/100
IMDB rating: 6.6/10 · 15,838 votes
MPAA: TV-MA

Part of

Kill Boksoon Collection

Also by

Byun Sung-hyun

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

MovieGuys2023-04-01
★ 6/10
I'll start by saying this would have been better without need, yet again to peddle "the message". I'm royally sick and tired of it and I'll bet a lot of others are, too. Okay, putting aside the woke nonsense, I can say, in most regards, this is a very watchable action film. Decent dialogue, a simple but functional back story and lots of well executed (pun intended) action. Acting is solid and there is great chemistry, between the cast. In summary, a very watchable action flick, that I would have rated even higher, if "the message" had been left on the cutting room floor.
CarsonTrent2023-05-15
★ 1/10
Propaganda Piece Use any weakness your opponent may have. This is the killer way (from Sun Tzu's - The Art of War). Netflix on the other hand knows that our weakness is K Drama. So in order to get its woke message of civilization deconstruction it cunningly wraps it up as an action movie. A cynical, glossy, over-dramatic mess of an action movie that is also quite full of itself. Western movie festivals proudly endorse it. After all it has been stamped by the rainbow people and they decide what art is nowadays. A weak K drama copy art-house wannabe stunk up by Woke town politics and weak action scenes which I will soon forget. But not forgive. A pity with all the talented cast. I will not watch Netflix productions again. Hope they go under like Bud light, but I'm afraid it's too late for the US and Western Europe (some westernized Asian countries included). If you don't believe me or think I'm being unfair, watch Yuri Bezmenov's lecture on societal ideological subversion techniques and stages (demoralization-destabilization-crisis-normalization) on YouTube. To bring about societal crisis and further divide the population, you need to create oppressed groups, radicalize them and give them power. Introduce ideas of "equality" and "inclusion", demonize the police and erase religion to create new cults and ideologies. Turn all values upside down. Sounds familiar ? The process of western societal destruction has almost past the point of no return. 1* out of 10
sajj2023-05-18
★ 8/10
For those who have seen many South Korean action movies and series, like myself, this film is no exception. It's made the way they always made action movies. So, sit back, get comfortable and be entertained. As for "woke" whatever and "the message it brings", people who suffer due to that (whatever it is), seem to see it everywhere! This whole page is starting to look strange, because it's become a platform for people who write the exact same review for everything that appears on this page. Same "oh, woke message, their influence, bad movie or series, it's woke blah blah". I see it everywhere on this page now and it almost makes me not want to visit this page. It's not about the work, the story, the acting, the directing. And it is serious. It seems to have become all about that "idea" and "message of woke" - whatever it means. People could not care LESS about "woke" in my part of the world and in MANY others. Also, most of the time, there is NO evidence of this, it has nothing to do with the work, which makes me wonder - do they even watch? Or just "copy - paste" the same review? Now, South Korea does not suffer from this "condition" and "message"- in any case, not yet. Let's make that clear. What they make is not burdened by this "problem". So my advice to these "critics" would be this: Stop putting people off perfectly normal series and movies, by venting about something that affect you, your region of the world and seems to rule and color everything you see. It is WRONG. We're come here to discuss movies and series and not to vent our personal and political grudges. It's not fair to those who might miss out on fun and good stories, if they were to take this uninformed, malicious advice. In conclusion: People of the world, feel free to watch this movie, it's nicely paced, entertaining, with some solid acting.