“Watch who you hire.”

Story: Hornclaw, a “specialist” – think more Nobody, less The Pitt – has been doing her job for the past forty years. She’s the one every other killer has nightmares about, a true legend in her field. But sixty-five years are starting to weigh on her. She’s still at the top of her game, but everyone else thinks it’s time she’s out to pasture. So when brash young Bullfight joins her agency, he’s determined to take her down, thanks to the attachments she’s started to form with a young man and his family. Bullfight has obviously never watched an action movie in his life. Otherwise he’d know this is gonna be one tough matchup.

Genre I’d put it in: Heartstring-tugging Action Movies You Kinda Already Know
Release Date: 2025
Remake, Sequel, Based-On, or Original: Based on the novel of the same name by South Korean author Gu Byeong-mo.

Gotta say: I’m a sucker for action films. Throw in a little soapy drama, and you couldn’t keep me away. Knife has the same gritty realism you’ve come to expect from Korean actioners like Train to Busan, and The Gangster, the Cop, the Devil (what can I say – I’m a sucker for any film Ma Dong-seok is in), and Oldboy. Knife pays beautiful homage to the pantheon of action greats, but abrupt, often disjointed editing keeps this one from truly soaring to the heights it could have reached.

This one’s worth a watch for the performances. As Nail/Hornclaw/Godmother, Lee Hye-young shows why she’s a legend in South Korea. She makes presenting emotional depth onscreen look as easy as breathing, and her action chops are nothing to sneeze at. It’s a master class in quiet power, and I’m calling it; one of the best performances this year. I don’t care that it’s only May. Kim Sung-cheol as her foil Bullfight is equally impressive. You know those characters you love to hate, but respect the [RADIO EDIT] out of the performer? Yep. That’s Kim. Then again, Kim stepping into the role of Jung Jin-soo in Season 2 of Hellbound proved he can deliver.

Great performers, a story that’s well tread enough to be fun, yet has some original twists. What’s not to love? Well, here I go. The pacing of Knife is wobbly at best. Scenes either run longer than their emotional impact allows, run out of steam before the next cut, or simply don’t convey what they try to. As with many productions that have the same person as writer and director, there seems to have been nobody around to lend a different perspective to what was being included. IMDb is scant on crew specifics, so I’m assuming Min was also the cinematographer and editor. There are folks who can do that, and stories that can handle an all-in-one approach to the creative process. But Knife routinely buckles under the weight of a story that’s both overlong and hard to understand. Characters are introduced, but not given enough time to become established before a flashback or fake-out scene cuts in. Hornclaw is a compelling character, but often her choices seem off-the-cuff, no matter how well Lee presents them.

I often adore a non-linear story, but here the dramatic irony isn’t given enough time to really get under your skin; a situation is shown, a flashback is immediately given, then the scene wraps with barely enough time to let that payoff sink in. And there’s a lack of grace to the subplot of Hornclaw and the stray dog she takes in. It feels like several things could explain how things play out, but instead of giving more time – a few seconds here, a pause for more emotional connection there – things feel rushed.(FYI, the dog does not meet a gruesome fate from any of her foes.) That said, the action scenes are amazing when they’re allowed to move at a brisk but enjoyable pace. The bloody goodness is done well, never becoming camp.

At a bit over two hours, Knife is a film that feels like it doesn’t know how to tell its story. A skilled editor could have whittled it down to a tight, brilliantly bloody film. A more experienced second writer could have balanced out the tunnel-vision of the director and lent a more cohesive feel to the plotting. (Kim Dong-wan’s only credit is this film, so I’m assuming there was very little input on their end.) Enjoying excellent moments of top-notch acting, in-between scenes that do little to build on the emotional impact this film strives to deliver, is all we’ve got. There are so many moments that could have been a real gut-punch, but instead feel more like And So That Happened. Which is a shame, as there are twists and turns that could have been incredibly powerful in the hands of a more critical group of creators.

It’s good, it’s very good. But damn, it could have been great.

#Protip: One thing I can’t stand seeing in movies? The idea that it’s cool just yanking out something that’s embedded in a character’s flesh when there’s nobody around to patch them up. No. No no no. There’s a reason killers stab, then immediately yank out, their weapons. Stay around longer. Save your own life. Leave that sucker in.