El bastardo

Ni siquiera las mejores palizas a las que estamos acostumbrados por parte de los asiáticos, ni siquiera las mejores persecuciones de coches, sino una trama más sorprendente y divertida que entretiene más y más con cada nueva escena. Hasta la mitad de la película no sabemos por qué el protagonista viaja a Corea y qué papel jugarán en su viaje todos los personajes secundarios armados con armas y veloces coches. Sin mencionar que en términos de importancia uno de ellos termina superando su importancia en la historia. Incluso en términos de interpretación, carisma e ingenio. Una agradable película para relajar que contiene humor negro. [Sitges FF] (06.10.2023)

This year's dark horse in the field of Korean blockbusters from one of the most acclaimed directors, Hoon-jung Park, is finally out and it's quite a hit. I've seen seven out of eight films from him and he hasn't always pleased me completely. His most famous projects are probably New World, The Witch: Part 1. The Subversion and Night in Paradise, he also wrote the screenplay for the biggest cult hit I Saw the Devil, so he's definitely a big director, with every new film eagerly awaited, and I have to say that his new film Childe may very well be one of my favourite, although I have some reservations about the full number here. The protagonist is a likeable amateur boxer trying to raise money for his ailing mother. He decides to follow his unknown and wealthy father to South Korea, only to meet some dangerous people along the way who will go for his throat – one of them is one of the best characters I've seen in years. TV star Seon-ho Kim makes his film debut here and did it so well that he's not only garnering accolades around the world, but now has the door wide open for other future projects. Here he plays a wisecracking, smiling and twisted Hitman with an incredible skill and he steals all the scenes for himself. (This movie is instantly asking for a prequel and spin-off thanks to this character!). The other characters, the female hitman and the half brother who is a typical gangster and bastard, are also interesting. The film has top notch visuals – this is top-of-the-range Korean technical quality – it nicely explains the problem of the so called Kopinos, the mixed race between Filipinos and Koreans, who Koreans don't like much. The film definitely impresses with an interesting story, which pulls an insanely shocking twist in the middle (the twist is shocking for the main character and the viewer, so it packs a double punch!) and to top it off, the ending is nicely over the top. The director has made a confident action thriller with a clever story and great characters, the kind you don't get that often. There could have been more action and I didn’t like much that the main character, being a boxer, is more likely to run away or simply not fight most of the time, so he didn't get much sympathy from me for that. Fortunately, Noble Man takes care of the action scenes, and the final in particular is a great and proper carnage (blood spurting, corpses piling up). The action is shot in comic book style, and it's so spectacular, brutal and stylish that I had to watch the ending again immediately. Surprisingly there's more shooting than cutting and punching, but it's still a decent thrill ride with a clever and engaging story and some cool twists. 85%. (31.07.2023)