THE CHILDE Blu-Ray Review: A Lean And Mean Cat-And-Mouse Thriller From Park Hoon-Jung
I have yet to see the complete resumé of filmmaker Park Hoon-jung’s work. What I can assert for the most part from what I’ve seen is that if you’re looking for an absolute thrill, you won’t be disappointed. His most recent effort, The Childe, is exemplary of this.
Little was known about this film’s plot from the outset of its release campaign, and brilliantly so considering what little there was to promote without being spoilery, for the most part. For what its worth however, the logline is simple enough to be enticing for anyone who loves an envigorating cat-and-mouse thriller out of South Korea, particularly one whose story is set between worlds, and with a cast of lead actors whose roles are budding opposites with one another whilst ultimately finding commonality as the plot thickens.
This story puts the viewer right into the gruesome world of a mysterious figure (Kim Seon-ho) who makes his brutal and chilling intro, just moments before we segue over to the Philippines-set exposition to meet Marco (Kang Tae-joo), son to a Korean father he’s been searching for in an effort to seek funds for his ailing Filipino mother. Par for the course with his efforts to make some much-needed cash are the underground boxing matches he competes in, which inexorably make him as formidable a fighter he needs to be outside the ring when the going gets rough.
We see those skills get put to the test when a botched robbery and betrayal finds Marco cornered into a street fight with a gang, only to be rescued with a help of a seemingly good samaritan. Several moments later, Marco is met with a lawyer supposedly representing his father in South Korea, and soon jettisons overseas for a reunion that could mean his mother’s salvation. Little does he know following a bizzare encounter with the aforementioned man of mystery from the top of the film, that a blistering life-or-death chase is about to give way as he’s forced to run for his life from multiple foes, including men working for Han Yi-sa (Kim Kang-woo), the head of a conglomerate bent on inheriting his dying father’s fortune.
Park’s script is a lithe character element that peppers the intrigue along the way – a fact vastly amplified in the film’s international allure. English is a common denominator among several key characters in The Childe, lending further to the enigma that is Kim Seon-ho’s character. Apart from Marco and other pieces on Park’s epic Chess board of bullets, high-speed pursuits and skullduggery, we know next to nothing about this puzzling man in a dapper suit who for most of the film seems bent on terrorizing poor Marco from the moment he arrives on Korean soil. Aside from the millions in cash that he might make, we know that his “professionalism” is his trademark, and he makes this clear on multiple occasions throughout the film. He also likes to buffer the chemistry a bit by prefacing himself as a “friend,” something which only serves to beleaguer Marco who has no idea as to what or how any of what is happening to him relates to his father.
For what its worth, all he knows is that he’s been thrown into the eye of a serious shitstorm, and he has every reason in the world to not feel safe. This is especially the case when Marco eventually meets Han, and he then has to cope with the likelihood that he might die. Hell, it was earlier in the film that at least one main character told him he would. Therein lies the mysterious man from earlier in the film the presses note as “Nobleman,” and just what entails with his character and why he’s involved in this terrible impasse at all.
What remains to be seen is how everything unravels in the The Childe, a nailbiting and intense thriller that lives up to the promise of watching a Park-directed actioner with all the trimmings. Laced with a whipsmart sensibility exuded by its cast along with actress Go Ara, the performances alone pull you into the mystery as the layers are slowly peeled back to reveal the final twist. The action alone is a guaranteed crowdpleaser at times next to the obligatory shootout, car chase and running scene, all which have titilating character moments – and mainly for Kim’s “Nobleman,” a man who dresses to impress and suffers from a recurring cough that you can’t help but wonder if whether or not it pertains to the core of the story. I have to note how even ridiculous a little of the action is at times – mind you that this is just as Park directed the superb high-flying sequel this 2018 sci-fi action horror, The Witch: Part One – The Subversion, and is well on the way with another sci-fi thriller in this year’s The Tyrant, so when I see things like Kang Tae-joo and Kim Seon-ho leap their way off of rooftops and even at one point off of a bridge with a jumping distance that would have injured anyone upon landing, I can’t help but wonder if some really wild shit is about to happen later in the film that really blows things up on a vastly more epic scale than we realize.
Alas, this doesn’t happen too gravely for The Childe, a film that deals in very tiny morsels of its story using Marco’s struggle to mask its true nature which in itself compliments just how strong and palpable the story is, as is Park’s creative vision. The action is lean and meaty in all the crucial places, and consistent with the film’s pacing, and the cinematography does tend to teeter on questionable at times, redeemed only by its treatment as a storytelling avenue accomodating the development of our characters, and a ridiculous aim-to-please attitude when it comes to action.
Par for the course of that evolution is the spotlight Park casts on the diaspora of Asians living in countries foreign to that of their heritage, and the attitudes Marco is faced with as one such individual as a “Kopino” fighting for two lives. Nevermind the cost of healthcare around the world, but that’s another discussion. All in all, The Childe doesn’t necessarily answer all the questions you might incur in your viewing experience. It will, however, entertain the shit out of you, topped off by solid casting performances including by a menacing Kim Seon-ho, and violence aplenty that hits the spot.
The Childe will be available on Blu-Ray from January 16, and comes with a slip-cover, with the feature film in a widescreen 16:9 format on the disc which also has optional English subtitles and only Korean audio, with a choice of either 5.1 or Dolby 2.0 sound. The disc also includes a trailer for the movie, and are no bonus features except for a trio of trailer that also play at the top of the disc upon insertion into your player, including The Moon, The Ghost Station, and Ransomed.
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Native New Yorker. Been writing for a long time now, and I enjoy what I do. Be nice to me!