Film

Kill Boksoon

Name: Kill Boksoon
Genre: Action, Drama, Thriller, Crime
Released: 2023
Cast: Jeon Do-yeon, Sul Kyung-gu, Kim Sia, Esom, Koo Kyo-hwan

Crime

A elite assassin juggles hits with school runs in this glossy, gleefully violent Korean thriller. Jeon Do-yeon is magnetic as the title killer, whose real crisis isn't a rival hitman but a teenage daughter who's stopped talking to her. Stylish, blood-soaked, and surprisingly tender underneath the choreography — for fans of sharp action with an emotional undertow.

TMDb rating

3.4

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like crime thrillers where the mayhem is mixed with a tender, slightly absurd domestic tug-of-war, and you enjoy watching a professional's precision applied to the chaos of a family kitchen table.

Skip it if you want a lean, relentlessly fast action picture, since at just over two hours it lingers on talky family scenes between its set-pieces and can feel padded to anyone who came only for the fights.

What it asks of you: Settle in for a little over two and a quarter hours, with stretches of quiet domestic friction broken up by sharp, violent bursts; it rewards patience more than it rewards restless viewing.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

The Villainess2017

Korea's other great female-assassin epic, with even more unhinged fight choreography and a similarly knotty story about motherhood colliding with a lethal profession.

But The plot jumps timelines aggressively and can feel more interested in spectacle than coherence.

My Name2021

A woman infiltrates the criminal underworld for revenge, trading brutal fight scenes for a slow-burn identity crisis — same steely lead energy, more room to breathe.

But Eight episodes of grim, testosterone-heavy plotting; the emotional payoff takes patience to earn.

John Wick2014

The gold standard for assassin-world mythology and rules-based underworld bureaucracy, if Boksoon's guild politics hooked you as much as the fighting did.

But No domestic thread at all — this is pure, relentless action with barely a pause for feeling.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Kill Boksoon

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Barry2018

Same core question as Boksoon — can you actually separate the killing self from the person who wants a normal life? — answered here with cringe comedy instead of choreography.

A hitman trying to build an ordinary life by becoming an actor, played for absurdist tragicomedy rather than glossy action — the same compartmentalization problem, cracked open for laughs and dread.

But Tonal whiplash between farce and real horror won't work for everyone, and it gets darker than the marketing suggests.

Kill Bill: Vol. 12003

Tarantino's operatic revenge saga shares Boksoon's love of a woman with a blade being both terrifying and strangely graceful about it.

But Cartoonish gore and genre-splicing excess that some find thrilling and others find exhausting.

Atomic Blonde2017

Charlize Theron in full brutal-elegance mode, all neon and bone-crunching fights — the closest Western cousin to Boksoon's visual swagger.

But Style outruns substance; the Cold War plotting is mostly scaffolding for the action.

Gunpowder Milkshake2021

A mother-daughter dynamic threaded through a candy-colored world of hired killers — tonally lighter but hitting the same emotional beat.

But Leans hard into stylised camp; if you wanted grit, this is closer to a comic book.

Hanna2011

A teenage assassin raised for killing rather than living — a mirror image of Boksoon's story, seen from the daughter's side.

But Cooler and more clinical in tone; less interested in humor than in dread.

Killing Eve2018

A cat-and-mouse assassin drama that treats killing as intimate, funny, and psychologically messy — great if the character work drew you in as much as the violence.

But More seduction than action; the fight choreography is minimal compared to Boksoon's.

Kate2021

A poisoned assassin races the clock through Tokyo's underworld — brisk, brutal, and unpretentious if you just want the adrenaline again.

But Thin characterization and a plot that exists mainly to string action sequences together.

Gloria1980

The same tender-killer duality Boksoon runs on, stripped of spectacle — an older woman's violence made bearable only by who she's protecting.

Gena Rowlands as a gun-toting ex-mob moll reluctantly protecting a young boy, decades before this became an action subgenre — tough, weary, unglamorous, and quietly moving.

But No stylized fight scenes at all; this is slow, character-driven, and shot with 1980s grit rather than modern polish.

The Act of Killing2012

Boksoon asks, half-jokingly, whether a killer can be a good parent; this documentary asks the same question with no stylization and terrifyingly real stakes.

A documentary confronting real Indonesian death-squad leaders who reenact their killings on camera, revealing how people who kill for a living narrate themselves to their families and communities.

But This is genuinely disturbing nonfiction about real atrocities — not entertainment, and not something to watch lightly.