Taraparain Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

Bluebell Alcock Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

Stephan Hammond It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Myron Clemons A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

CJFouraki I thought Assassination was really good, and it was an enjoyable and worthwhile watch at 2 hours, not overstaying its welcome.The acting was great all across the board. Jung-woo Ha and Dal-su Oh worked really well together on screen as the contract killer duo. Jung-jae Lee was also really great as the defector. Ji-hyun Jun and Jin-woong Jo were also good in their roles, and the supporting cast also did a fine job.The cinematography and editing was really well done, giving us a lot of smooth shots which worked excellently during the action sequences, giving it a punchy, yet clean feel to it. It was gorgeous to look at and wasn't hard to follow at all.The story was really good, providing plenty of twists and turns and backstabbing delight, throwing the characters into more and more trouble. It portrayed a harsh world to live in and the Japanese were not portrayed favourably at all in this film. They were essentially asian Nazis, evil bad guys, cannon-fodder. The most interesting antagonists were the Koreans who had aligned themselves with Japan.There are a few moments where you might ask yourself why certain things were allowed to happen throughout, such as letting a suspect walk away into a room on their own when they're in the middle of being arrested. But nothing major enough I feel to take away from the film overall. Sometimes the story may seem a little clustered and muddled, but it doesn't insult your intelligence and everything falls in place as it goes along and becomes fully cohesive by the time the credits rolling, creating a satisfying spy film.My only gripe with this film that I don't see any of the other reviewers has a problem with, was the films soundtrack. I didn't like it at all. It seemed like royalty free music and really brought the movie down at points which was disappointing. Over-dramatic and cheesy at points, unfulfilling and un-epic when it needed to be at others. The sound design is well done though and the action scenes sound great.The set design, costumes, lighting, atmosphere of the film looks stunning, genuinely taking you back to the 1930s. It's a feast for the eyes and is awesome to look at. It was humorous, however, with the vehicles as they didn't move fast at all most of the time, moving at a running pace, but thankfully the gun-play amped up the tension and excitement.This movie has its problems but I still recommend it, as it is engaging, fun and thrilling. It's not the best Korean movie by any means and it's far from the worst. Dong-hoon Choi has done a really good job here, but not as good as his 2012 film, The Thieves. So overall, I recommend watching this movie as it was a satisfying 2 hours for me, with a good story and cool characters that you care about, with a satisfying pay-off. 7.5/10 really good Korean film.

tenshi_ippikiookami "Amsal" is a very interesting and fun movie, that takes a moment of history to develop an over-convoluted and overstuffed plot that, luckily for the viewer, never lets the pace down and offers twists and surprises all of its running time. It lasts more than two hours, but it feels like way less.The story seems simple. The Korean resistance gets a team ready to kill a Japanese Commander and his Korean friend. But there is a traitor within the resistance. And a Korean killer for hire. And some other surprises. The plot keeps throwing characters in front of the screen with too much glee and in the first minutes it will be a little bit difficult to follow who is who. Dong-hoon Choi, though, does a great job in keeping the action going and keeping things interesting and twisting enough. The directing style is great (maybe too flashy in some occasions) and it makes the movie feel bigger than it really is.The action is also well developed. All the action scenes have a great choreography and keep and orchestrated development, with a very smart use of location. On top of all of this, the acting is top notch, Ji-hyun Jun and Jung-woo Ha doing a great job as always. The characters are a little bit archetypal and some of them too black & white, but the actors bring them to life and make the viewer feel empathy for all of them."Amsal" is a movie worth seeing. Totally recommended.

Reno Rangan I remember that a few years ago I loved 'Jeon Woo-Chi' from this same director. It was so awesome, the mix between the modern world and ancient myth with the usual Korean style presentation, a little different from other similar western films due to the cultural difference. After that, this the second movie of his I am watching and I had two opposite thoughts in the two halves of the movie.Initially, I felt I chose a wrong movie. One of the reason was, I could not get the film characters right due to complicated introductions. Too many main characters and that's a too much to recognise if you're not a Korean or not familiar with the Korean faces/actors. Somewhat I was confused, at least in the first quarter. In the second half, especially after the story moved to Korean, I get used to it and afterwards it was very smooth.The other reason was obviously the length of the movie. Only because of the puzzled opening order. Later the story development was so good, I began to feel comfortable with the narration and after that I did not notice the runtime at all. I have no source to confirm whether it was based on the real or simply a cinematic fiction, but it was very interesting as it progress. So don't force yourself to watch the movie, but it you do, then give it a time in the beginning and be focused, later definitely you will be in a position to get through as easily as I did."Damn, we could all die tomorrow. Let's dance."Actually, it all began in the year 1911, and moved to 20 years later during the Japan's occupation of Korea. The resistance freedom fighters plan a series of assassination of the Japanese leaders in the nation's different regions. One such man was a powerful native business tycoon. When everything goes wrong, the story begins to take a turn, complicates further by revealing the old secret. How much it affects and to whom, followed by the final battle sequence.Obviously everyone interesting in this film for Jeon Ji-Hyun's presence. Of course, as usual she was very impressive, but her so- star, Ha Jung-Woo with his weird screen name 'Hawaii Pistol' was also equally good. When I first heard Hawaii Pistol is coming, I thought it was the arms supply from Hawaii. Anyway, it was a grand intro, after his entry the movie was set to explore the rest of the story in a style. The other actors like his hilarious partner and the main villain set the tone for the movie.Certainly it is a movie to pick if you want an historic subject other than your regular Korean themes. Beautifully written for the screen, except like I said the editing was confusing for the lack of proper inception. Don't think it's simply about the brave freedom fighters; betrayal, revenge, family, third person caught in, like that it had many stuffs. It is also very rare to see a woman fighter among them. All the action scenes were really well made, because that's the title isn't. The terrific settings of the 30s as well. I can't say about it is a must see or not, but surely a fine historic movie that I am pleased with.8/10

kluseba "Assassination" or "Amsal" is an engaging and epic mixture of an espionage action film and a historically inspired drama. Both genre parts are equally balanced and the modern special effects aren't so overloaded that they feel out of context in a movie set more than eighty years ago. The film convinces with an intellectually appealing script, diversified and great characters and acting performances and a solid mixture of historically inspired storytelling, personal drama parts and tense action scenes. There is no doubt that this is one of the best movies of the year.Over the course of almost two and a half hours, the film tells the story of an assassination attempt on a Japanese governor and a pro-Japanese Korean business tycoon by Korean resistance activists during Japan's colonial rule of Korea. The movie is set at different times and even the perspectives slightly change which makes the movie a little bit hard to follow in the beginning. The film takes all the time it needs to introduce the different characters and the historical settings which adds a lot of depth to the characters, details to the historic elements and emotions to the story. These are the reasons why the slightly long introduction that might be hard to sit through for wider audiences is absolutely essential to the rest of the movie.The first slow-paced hour builds up to the furious last ninety minutes of the film. The final two thirds of the film feature a stellar acting performance, a smart use of camera angles, costumes, locations, soundtrack and special effects by the director and a clever story with many predictable but also unpredictable twists and turns in form of different conspiracies.Especially the fate of female sniper Ahn OK-yun who is portrayed by an absolutely stunning Jun Ji-hyun in the best performance of her career is a key element of the movie. Most viewers will probably care a lot about the twisted ups and downs of this engaging character.The showdown of the movie is one of the best directed action scenes in world cinema this year and in the history of Korean cinema in general. It's not as memorable as the fighting scenes in "Oldboy", "The Man from Nowhere" or "The Admiral: Roaring Currents" but it gets quite close and has a breathtaking choreography. The coda of the movie which takes place almost two decades after the actions of the main plot is an excellent way to end a great movie on a high note.Due to it's complex story and high number of directional ideas, I would recommend watching this movie several times. This emotional action-drama is definitely worth your attention and one of the cinematic highlights of the year. I can't wait to revisit this great film and buy this movie on DVD or Blu-ray next year.