Min Kyu-dong’s South Korean action-drama “The Old Woman with the Knife” adapts Gu Byeong-mo’s novel of the same name with results at once languid and overstuffed. While it features an enticing premise, slotting a 65-year-old woman into the underground assassin genre (a position usually reserved for grizzled men and young vixens), its story remains rooted in an inordinate amount of detail, which the film metes out in awkward ways.
Of course, as with any film of this nature, it’s worth first asking whether its fireworks are worthwhile. The answer is yes and no: Initial visual speed bumps render combat frenetic to the point of incomprehensible. This lack of distinct geography initially robs the film of cohesion, and while it does eventually find its groove, its major illusion — surrounding its elderly assassin character (codenamed Nails, Hornclaw, and Godmother) — is never quite convincing.
Lee Hye-young is wonderfully committed as Hornclaw, a silent, lonely senior citizen reluctant to retire from her organization of hired hitmen. The moments in which the camera captures her toned form and her sprightly movements are exciting and impressive. Unfortunately, the movie seldom hides its seams for the physical work that’s beyond her capabilities. Suspending one’s disbelief to accept stunt doubles and other tricks of the trade is part and parcel of enjoying the action genre, but “The Old Woman with the Knife” stretches incredulity once too often, with editing and framing that far too often tip the movie’s hand. It can’t help but feel sloppy, and the emotions underlying the action rarely override the part of one’s brain that notices such things.
Some of the movie’s visual flaws — like the malformed CGI snow in its opening scene — can be easily forgiven as a fairytale-like flourishes when a younger, homeless Hornclaw (Shin Si-ah) is taken in by a kindly restaurant owner who also claims to work in pest control. The double meaning behind his job title comes to light when a local American G.I. tries to assault Hornclaw and finds himself on the wrong end of a lengthy skewer, and the owner skillfully disposes of the corpse. The next five decades, during which Hornclaw trains and rises through the assassin ranks, unfold in the form of an opening credits montage, which seems like screentime enough for this particular premise — that is, until the plot begins unfolding, and the past becomes just as important as the present, if not more so.
Now in her sixties, Hornclaw hides her health diagnoses from her superiors, as they hand her manila folders with details on how and where to track down ne’er-do-wells, ranging from drug dealers to domestic abusers who have evaded the law. However, this tale of aging and of confronting vigilante justice is very quickly bogged down by even further flashbacks, as though Min had first intended for us to watch an entire prequel to “The Old Woman with the Knife.”
In lieu of this, drama is often set up either moments before it’s paid off, or in several cases, even during or afterward, leading to a hasty, chaotic narrative that always seems like it’s trying to catch up to itself. It gestures toward emotional complexity, usually by way of the young and (even by the other assassins’ standards) roguish new recruit named Bullfight (Kim Sung-cheol), whose dynamic with Hornclaw becomes the movie’s central driving force, alongside the question of whether Hornclaw will let the few personal connections she has override her professional code.
Beyond a point, the connections between past and present characters seem obvious, rendering the experience of watching the movie’s twists and turns less one of delight and surprise, and more one of simply waiting for the other inevitable shoe to drop. It’s a whole lot of talk with very little visceral or emotional impact, and although it builds to a remarkably self-assured climax rife with shootouts and complex stunt work, it’s hard to call the wait worthwhile.
