4 stars
With its heavy dependence on nostalgia (Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny), special effects (Fast X), and comic book franchises (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3), the American action movie has grown flaccid. Sure, there are exceptions: John Wick 4 was good fun, but it’s also the fourth film in a nearly decade-old series and wasn’t nearly as thrilling to watch as 2014’s original.
Any action movie fan looking for an original thrill ride this summer must check out The Childe, the latest from the director Park Hoon-jung (The Witch, Parts 1 & 2). It’s a blueprint for the future of action films. That doesn’t mean some unimaginative bean counter at a Hollywood studio should green-light an American version of the director’s film. Instead, it should inspire Hollywood to take some chances and try something new.
The Childe tells the story of Marco (Kang Tae-ju), an amateur boxer in a desperate fight to earn the money he needs to pay for a medical procedure to save his mother’s life. Marco is also paying people to search for his absent father, a wealthy man who cut ties with Marco and his Mom long ago. Just as he starts to lose faith, things start happening in Marco’s life that set him on a path that could save his mom’s life. Or end his.
Before a single well-choreographed punch is thrown or a gun fired, though, the thing that sets The Childe apart from the bulk of this style film is the way the director, who also wrote the screenplay, avoids the trap of substituting dialogue for exposition. Pick a favorite action movie and watch the first half hour. Chances are most of what is talked about in the film is little more than a gussied-up explanation of what has happened to put the lead where he is and what will happen next. That’s not the case in The Childe. You may guess what’s happening from scene to scene and even be right sometimes. But Park doesn’t feel the need to spoon-feed it to you. He also doesn’t give you much time to worry about it. Once the fighting begins, there’s hardly time to breathe, let alone overthink.
The action sequences in The Childe run the gamut from intense one-on-one punchouts to outrageous battle sequences featuring dozens of weapon-wielding assassins, and to Park’s credit, he makes them all feel real. Sure, you can tell yourself that the epic battle in the operating room towards the movie’s end “would never happen,” but only after your rational mind returns once you’ve unclenched from watching it.
The acting in The Childe is strong enough to stand out in all the chaos on the screen. Kang, making his big-screen debut, brings a lot of soul to the role of Marco, never letting the audience forget that he is a son on a mission to save his mom even as the world explodes around him. Kim Kang-woo is also good as the criminal mastermind pulling the strings that ensnare Marco.
And then there’s Kim Seon-ho, the wildcard of the story who pursues Marco with the relentlessness of a T-1000 chasing John Connor in Terminator 2: Judgement Day. Kim brings a unique style to the character, from his well-tailored suit and even more well-styled hair to the unique delivery of his lines, especially the out loud inner monologue that keeps him company as he chases Marco down. He is one of the more original action movie “bad” guys in the past decade. It wouldn’t have to be a sequel or prequel to The Childe, but seeing what Kim and Park could do in another film would be fascinating.
