Hey folks, Valkor here. And I welcome you to TOV's "30 in 30", where I'll review 30 unique film and maybe some not so unique, all in 30 days. What's cool for most of the flicks, is that I know nothing about em. So this should be a real treat not just for you guys, but for me as well. Good or bad, this is gonna be a fun month. It all starts today July the 4th and ends on Aug the 3rd. Can I make it through? We'll know soon enough!
And we're gonna kick off this feature with a little film called "The Korean", which is written and directed by Thomas Dixon and stars Josiah D. Lee.
Josiah plays Lee, a Korean assassin workin for a guy named CB (voiced by Harry O'Tool). Throughout the first 40 or so minutes we'll follow along with Lee as he's shot, killed, or going after guys who've gone against his boss including a chief of police Jude (John Yost), his ex-partner Ray (Jack Erdie), and a female assassin Lissia (Jennifer Vos) who was initially sent to kill him, but doesn't exactly hit the mark. Turns out Lissia, Ray, and Jude are all in on a transaction that would net them a lot of money. Only problem is, it's all CB's money. And if they get caught, the group knows who's gonna be sent in to finish them off. That's right, CB is sending in "The Korean". The second half of the film deals with his past; we learn about the death of his brother Adam, who was killed after he performed his first hit and also all the events that lead up to Lee's going after those who went against his boss. It's in this area we see how all the pieces fit from the beginning, why it all comes undone, and the aftermath of it all.
I dunno, but for some reason, in this world, I think Batman would fit right in… And maybe if he were in it, I'd probably not have fallen asleep. And trutheshly, I liked this film better when it was called "Fist of The Warrior", which was just as cheesy, but a much better revenge story involving an Asian lead.
The Good:
N/A. That's right, N/A as in there's absolutely nothing good about this film.
The Bad:
You're lookin at an orgy of a convoluted plot, bad acting, and little action. For one thing, right in the beginning, the story is played out of sequence. Does it really have to or need to? Not really because we watch all the events play out in their entirety throughout the second half, which includes Lee's past. We briefly watch Lee as a kid, living with his brother who were struggling… really unnecessary because it adds ZERO to the overall story, but intros some major characters. But why not show the past first and onward sequentially? Or better yet, skip the past, and just play out the second half of the film with more action; I think the film would have made much better sense that way. The acting – there's not one standout in the bunch. Nuff said. The action is minimal and this film could have used a heavy dose of it too. Overall, this is one pill that's truly hard to swallow. Although if you're in need of a sleep aid, The Korean will hit the spot.
The Ugly:
There's a scene where this Arab photographer, Abdullah, is driving off with Ray tied up in his truck. You see Ray caught Abdulla snappin photos of him, Lee, and the cop and as punishment Ray cut off his thumbs. So Abdullah breaks into a crazy fit over how he was going to kill Ray and ends up dead having a heart attack. But just watching him go into that rage… crazy stuff.
Oh and for the record, Lee doesn't die. Turns out he can stop his heart to make people think he's dead. And the bullets that supposedly killed him? Well they get caught in other stuff. But in the end The Korean is still a complete waste of time of a film. I don't recommend it and out of TOV 5 stars, I give the film a 0 – a first for the sight and I hope it's the last.
