AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

ChanFamous I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Kien Navarro Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Allison Davies The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

CJFouraki I thought Assassination was really good, and it was an enjoyable and worthwhile watch at 2 hours, not overstaying its welcome.The acting was great all across the board. Jung-woo Ha and Dal-su Oh worked really well together on screen as the contract killer duo. Jung-jae Lee was also really great as the defector. Ji-hyun Jun and Jin-woong Jo were also good in their roles, and the supporting cast also did a fine job.The cinematography and editing was really well done, giving us a lot of smooth shots which worked excellently during the action sequences, giving it a punchy, yet clean feel to it. It was gorgeous to look at and wasn't hard to follow at all.The story was really good, providing plenty of twists and turns and backstabbing delight, throwing the characters into more and more trouble. It portrayed a harsh world to live in and the Japanese were not portrayed favourably at all in this film. They were essentially asian Nazis, evil bad guys, cannon-fodder. The most interesting antagonists were the Koreans who had aligned themselves with Japan.There are a few moments where you might ask yourself why certain things were allowed to happen throughout, such as letting a suspect walk away into a room on their own when they're in the middle of being arrested. But nothing major enough I feel to take away from the film overall. Sometimes the story may seem a little clustered and muddled, but it doesn't insult your intelligence and everything falls in place as it goes along and becomes fully cohesive by the time the credits rolling, creating a satisfying spy film.My only gripe with this film that I don't see any of the other reviewers has a problem with, was the films soundtrack. I didn't like it at all. It seemed like royalty free music and really brought the movie down at points which was disappointing. Over-dramatic and cheesy at points, unfulfilling and un-epic when it needed to be at others. The sound design is well done though and the action scenes sound great.The set design, costumes, lighting, atmosphere of the film looks stunning, genuinely taking you back to the 1930s. It's a feast for the eyes and is awesome to look at. It was humorous, however, with the vehicles as they didn't move fast at all most of the time, moving at a running pace, but thankfully the gun-play amped up the tension and excitement.This movie has its problems but I still recommend it, as it is engaging, fun and thrilling. It's not the best Korean movie by any means and it's far from the worst. Dong-hoon Choi has done a really good job here, but not as good as his 2012 film, The Thieves. So overall, I recommend watching this movie as it was a satisfying 2 hours for me, with a good story and cool characters that you care about, with a satisfying pay-off. 7.5/10 really good Korean film.

gergelyh-15596 Although fast-paced and well-photographed, this film is incredibly childish. Exaggerated acting, over-the-top patriotism and really silly dialogs!Still could be enjoyable if it had good acrobatic stunts, some swordplay and so on, but no such luck -- action means only lots of fake shooting. The sets and costumes are often anachronistic, what certainly could be put to good use, but in this case seems unintentional, and so does the humor in most cases.Overall I found this a big waste of time. I can understand the Koreans who liked an improved version of their history, but I suspect the Western fans of this flick must have grown up on Disney Zorro... (And even that had better dialogs.)

BasicLogic This film is exactly like those ridiculous Chinese TV dramas, trying so hard to portray the struggles of the Korean colonized era by the Japanese. Those stupid and ridiculous Chinese TV dramas telling how the Chinese Communist Party fighting against the Japanese were often so stupid and ridiculous since the Chinese Communist Party and its guerrilla army controlled by the Soviet Communist Sovereign Party never fought the Japanese but their own Chinese National Party armies, stabbing them from behind and using the opportunity to strengthen themselves. Likewise, this film about the Korean people trying to fight against the Japanese is also a very badly scripted, very poorly directed film. There were too many jerk and clown-like characters in it. The plot was absurd, the costumes looked too modern, the dialog lame and most of the actors acted pretentious and one-dimensional.If you want to make a film in such genre, you must have a serious screenplay with believable plots and scenarios, you cannot insert some funny guys like clowns or jerks and put them between or among the other serious characters, making this film turn into a ridiculous farce. Korean films used to be good or even fantastic, but this one is definitely not one of them. This is a very ridiculous film, trying to be serious, trying to tell a serious story, but due to the lack of a serious screenplay and a moronic production team led by a stupid director, signed up too many light weight bad clown-like actors, has completely ruined some of the best actors and the leading actress. I don't know how some of the viewers would consider this film great, but to me, it's just like a childish play written and directed by couple of high school drop-outs. A total waste of the Korean Yuens$$.Just can't believe a supposed-to-be-serious film full of so many clown-like characters. What a bomb.

drjgardner This is a marvelous film about the Japanese oppression suffered by the Koreans over 4 decades. Most of the film is set in 1933 during an assassination attempt on a Korean collaborator and a Japanese official responsible for horrors inflicted on the Koreans in Manchuria in 1931. The central character is a sniper for the Korean Independence Army (Jun Ji-hyun) who takes on the assignment. The film is filled with all sorts of interesting characters, with names like "Hawaii Pistol" and "Big Gun", and there are double crosses and even triple crosses along the way.The photography is terrific, the atmosphere is nostalgic, and even the music adds to the film's value. Writer-Director Choi Dong hoon keeps the acting moving right along.Rather than merely an assassination film, this is more of a story of relationships, and at the core is one family's journey through the tumultuous times, although you may not recognize this at first.The subtitles are a little hard to read, and some of the characters are hard to tell apart, but otherwise this is an excellent film. I was particularly taken with the acting of Jun Ji-hyun and Ha Jung- woo