REVIEW: ASSASSINATION (암살) HAS KOREA FIGHTING FOR INDEPENDENCE

Before anyone freaks out, no, this movie is not a true story. 

Set during the historically true Japan's Rule over Korea, a small group of resistance fighters are recruited to assassinate a high ranking Korean who betrayed their people. 

Choi Dong-Hoon's Asassination (암살) is epic in both good and bad ways. Choi's cast is star studded with Jun Ji-Hyun, Lee Jung-Jae and Ha Jung-Woo to name a few. Action scenes are bomastic, loud and full of flying bullets and people getting shot left, right and centre. Assassination also has so many twists and turns that it will make your head spin. 

The problem with making an epic movie is having a movie that is overstuffed with too much going on, leading to a project that is ultimately too long. Assassination feels like a long film, but rather than flesh out that length with character development and a real sense of the Korean people who have been ruled by the Japanese, we get plot. 

Lots of plot. 

So much plot that reciting the whole movie to you is a chore. 

The movie is most successful as a fun action film. Dosed with inklings of comedy and fantastic interaction between the cast, they make this slug of a movie give us something to gawk at in the meantime. 

Beyond its epicness, Assassination suffers from actually being cringeworthy. When people died, I'm not gonna lie, I cracked up. Dying in a respectful way is apparently very difficult because several actors here just have no idea how to die. 

Though Assassination is a very Hollywood reimagining of 19th century Korean issues, hopefully it opens the door to an era that has a lot more substance and films that have more to say. 

PLAYBACK RATING: WATCH (JUST ONCE)

Assassination was viewed at KOFFIA, 2016 in Sydney. Be sure to check out upcoming movies in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Canberra, Adelaide and Perth.