The Old Woman with the Knife

She is the sort of greybeard you might work with at your company who knows where all the bodies are buried. In her case, it is because she killed them. It is all part of the job when you work for an assassination firm. The founder used to refer to their work as “pest control,” but the new management takes a more mercenary approach. Their clash of corporate cultures turns deadly in Min Kyu-dong’s The Old Woman and the Knife, which opens this Friday in theaters.

Ryu was a hired killer, but he had a keen sense of right and wrong. He and his wife took the woman he would dub “Nails,” which eventually evolved into “Hornclaw,” into their home when they found her near-dead on the street. He subsequently inducted her into his real business when—in self-defense—she shows an aptitude for it.

Over the years, Hornclaw became a folk legend among assassins, even after her mentor’s spectacularly bloody demise. She is still active, but the assignments aren’t what they used to be. From what she can see, the firm now mostly passes on the cases she and Ryu specialized in, opting for better paying but more ethically questionable gigs.

Unfortunately, Hornclaw’s age starts to catch up with her—almost fatally. Frankly, she would not have been a goner had Kang, a widower veterinarian, not taken the unconscious hit-lady back to his animal clinic for emergency treatment. In Hornclaw’s world, no good deed goes unpunished, especially if it leaves witnesses, but she is tired of compromising her principles. She is also already tired of “Bullfight” the reckless, borderline psychotic new assassin her boss recruited.

This is exactly the sort of nifty Korean thriller that Hollywood might option to remake, but would inevitably foul-up. Somehow, it manages to be simultaneously gritty and slick. Most of all, it is terrific showcase for veteran thesp Lee Hye-young as the Eastwoodesque Hornclaw. Her performance serves as a thoughtful contemplation on aging and all the bad karma that accrues over a lifetime.

Lee anchors the film with her magnetic steeliness, while Kim Sung-cheol makes a worthy foil as Bullfight, who is unnervingly nihilistic in an aptly Gen-Z kind of way. Together, they also take care of seriously rough-and-tumble street-fighting. (It should be noted Lee also gets several timely assists from Shin Si-ah, as the younger Hornclaw, seen in flashbacks.) There are indeed some very nice performances in Old Woman and the Knife, but it always takes care of business.

It is amazing how consistently the South Korean film industry delivers solidly entertaining action-driven thrillers. Hornclaw is not exactly Kim Ok-vin’s The Villainess re-conceived as a sexagenarian, but there are times when the film comes close. Highly recommended for fans of Korean crime dramas, The Old Woman with the Knife opens tomorrow (5/16) in theaters, including the CGV in Los Angeles.