(Movie Review) 'The Childe': blood-soaked crime thriller with chilling chase scenes

By Kim Eun-jung

SEOUL, June 9 (Yonhap) -- "The Childe" is a stylish crime thriller with fast-paced action, mayhem and shooting scenes, following a desperate Korean-Filipino man's ominous journey to search for his Korean father with villains chasing him down.

Director Park Hoon-jung, best known for the engrossing gangster action movie "New World" (2013), once again shows his unique cinematography with stylish villains hunting down the kopino, referring to a person of mixed Korean and Filipino descent, for their own purposes.

Kim Seon-ho plays the titular role, an enigmatic character who calls himself a "professional" in front of his enemies and a "friend" to his target.

The handsome guy in a designer suit kills people with a leisurely smile and silly jokes, but gets easily annoyed by blood stains on his luxury shoes. The ruthless killer knows how to get his job done.

Marco (Kang Tae-joo) fights at illegal boxing stadiums in the Philippines and has been searching for his Korean father to raise money for his sick Filipina mother's surgery.

One day, he gets a message from his Korean father's side and flies to South Korea to meet him.

The journey, however, is full of plights as Marco is chased by the childe, a mysterious woman (Go Ara), and his Korean father's son, Han (Kim Kang-woo).

Han is the heir-apparent of a family-controlled conglomerate and needs something from Marco to smooth out his succession plan as his father is dying.

Although Han is a senior executive in his father's business empire, the smart-mouthed guy looks more like a gangster boss swarmed by suit-wearing thugs.

Marco at first flees for his life without knowing why they are chasing him but later discovers the dangerous scheme behind his trip to South Korea.

Amid the unpredictable chaos and madness, plot twists and more twists unfold to maintain suspense throughout the plot.

The story reveals the predicament of a half-breed Korean born to an unwed Filipina mother through the eyes of Marco, but it does not delve into the heavy subject and stays faithful to the genre.

The neo-noir film is reminiscent of Park's "New World" in terms of cinematography and style, but its plot is less plausible with a lack of narrative surrounding the childe, who takes up a considerable portion of the story.

In his big screen debut, Kim Seon-ho shows a different side from his rom-com TV series "Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha" (2021) by creating a cold-blooded, quirky killer who cracks jokes even in a life-or-death situation.

Veteran actor Kim Kang-woo depicts the best villain character of his career, while rookie Kang's nuanced facial expression and boxing action attests to why he was chosen out of 1,980 candidates for the role.

"The Childe" hits local theaters on June 21.

ejkim@yna.co.kr
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