---
title: "The Villainess"
year: 2017
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/the-villainess"
fi1m_id: "the-villainess"
imdb_id: "tt6777338"
tmdb_id: 437109
wikidata_id: "Q29652900"
fi1m_score: 68
critics_score: 71
critics_reviews: 18
published: "2026-10-02T21:55:32.875325+00:00"
updated: "2026-10-02T21:55:50.657891+00:00"
region: "ID"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# The Villainess (2017)

Directed by Jung Byung-gil · 2h 09m · Action, Thriller

## Identity

The Villainess

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/the-villainess
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** the-villainess
- **IMDb ID:** tt6777338
- **TMDB ID:** 437109
- **Wikidata ID:** Q29652900
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6777338/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/437109, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q29652900

**Fi1m score: 68** · Critics 71 from 18 reviews

*In a sentence:* She kills forty men before the title card and the film still thinks the problem is her love life

> Jung Byung-gil’s assassin thriller contains three or four of the most inventive action sequences we have seen in years, and spends the hour between them on a slow, borrowed melodrama. See it for the fights; forgive the rest if you can.

## Synopsis

Sook-hee (Kim Ok-vin) walks into a building full of armed gangsters and kills every one of them, and we watch it through her own eyes until she is dragged out bloodied and handcuffed. She wakes in a secret government agency run by Kwon-sook (Kim Seo-hyung), who has her face surgically changed, gives her a new name and a stage career, and promises her freedom after ten years’ service. She is also pregnant. Training alongside fellow recruit Kim Sun (Jo Eun-ji), she is installed in a flat with her small daughter and a friendly new neighbour, Hyun-soo (Sung Joon), who has been assigned to watch her. In flashback we learn of her father’s murder and of Joong-sang (Shin Ha-kyun), the gangster who took the orphaned girl in and trained her to kill.

## Review

*The Villainess* is the [*Nikita*](https://film.one/film/nikita) story told in Korea with the volume up: a killer is taken off the street by a secret state agency, remade, and promised her freedom after ten years’ service. Jung Byung-gil, who wrote it with Jung Byeong-sik, is plainly less interested in that story than in what he can do with a camera while people are trying to kill each other, and on that score the film is remarkable. In between, it asks us to care about a love triangle and a small child, and it does so in the manner of a daytime serial. The fights are among the best we have seen in years. The rest is a long wait for the next one.

The opening is the reason to go. For several minutes we see only what Sook-hee sees: a corridor, a door, a man with a knife, her own hands and the blade in them, bodies piling up along the walls while the lens lunges and tilts with her. Park Jung-hoon’s camera is strapped to the action rather than watching it, and when it finally swings round to show us her face the effect is a jolt, as if someone had switched on a light. We were exhilarated and a little sick, in that order, and we suspect the second feeling was intended. Nothing in the film quite matches it, though two later sequences come close.

Kim Hee-jin’s design for the agency is the film’s best joke: a clean, bright institution with a dance studio, a stage and an operating theatre, where young women are taught to act and to kill with the same brisk efficiency. Kim Seo-hyung runs it as Kwon-sook, in tailored jackets and a voice that never rises, and it is the one adult performance in the film. Kim Ok-vin has a face that can go blank in an instant, and the film uses it well: a woman whose features have been changed and whose name has been taken, checking mirrors to see who is left. Jo Eun-ji, as the fellow recruit Kim Sun, gives her a friend, and the two of them get the only scenes of ordinary warmth in 129 minutes.

Then the film sits down to tell its story, and the story is the trouble. Sook-hee’s past arrives in pieces: a childhood murder, a gangster called Joong-sang (Shin Ha-kyun) who takes the orphan in and trains her, a wedding. Her present is a flat, a daughter and a new neighbour, Hyun-soo (Sung Joon), who has been assigned to watch her and promptly falls for her. Heo Sun-mi cuts between past and present so freely that for long stretches we could not have said which decade we were in or why it mattered, and the script does not help, handing people lines that announce their feelings rather than show them. Koo Ja-wan lays strings under every one of these scenes as if apologising for them. Somewhere in the second hour we looked at our watch, and then felt bad about it, because the film had been so generous half an hour earlier.

Then it is generous again. A motorbike chase along a night road, swords drawn at speed, puts the camera in among the bikes rather than alongside them, and we stopped wondering how it was done and simply held on. The finale, aboard a bus in heavy rain with an axe in play, takes everything the film has learned about moving a lens through a confined space and shakes it hard. We will not say how it comes out. We will say that we made a noise in the cinema we had not made for some time.

Luc Besson’s *Nikita* (1990) had the same bones and knew that the state’s cruelty to the woman was the story. Park Chan-wook’s revenge films understood that a plot this tangled needs one clear line of hurt to hang on. Jung has borrowed the suits, the agency, the vengeance and the sorrow, and kept only the surfaces. Sook-hee is handed so much grief, so quickly, that none of it has time to land, and by the end we had stopped keeping count of what she had lost.

See it, knowing that it is two films stitched together. One is forty minutes of action of real daring that deserves a big screen. The other is a ninety-minute melodrama you can skip through at home with a clear conscience. The certificate is 18, and the opening alone would earn it.

*Fi1m score 68, published 2 October 2026.*

## What the critics say

Most critics come away pleased, and nobody comes away hostile. The praise lands almost entirely on the action: the opening sequence, a night-time motorbike chase and a finale aboard a speeding bus are named again and again as inventively staged and precisely choreographed. Kim Ok-vin’s lead performance is singled out by several reviews for its physical conviction and raw feeling, and a few also warm to the tenderness of the heroine’s scenes with her daughter.

The reservations are about everything in between. Nearly every review, including the warm ones, calls the plot overstuffed, convoluted or too familiar, and several say the character-driven stretches stall the pace. The spread is moderate rather than wide, running from enthusiastic to lukewarm. The Los Angeles Times is the sharpest dissenter, finding the storytelling wearying rather than merely muddled, and Variety goes further than most in objecting to how the heroine is treated.

## Straight answers

**Is The Villainess worth watching?**

*The Villainess* is worth watching for its action sequences, which are among the most inventive we have seen in years, and we scored it 68. Between the fights sits a slow melodrama about a love triangle and a small child, played like a daytime serial. See it for the opening, the motorbike chase and the finale, and forgive the hour in between if you can.

**How long is The Villainess, and what is it rated?**

*The Villainess* runs 2h 09m. It is an action and thriller film.

**Where can I watch The Villainess in Indonesia?**

*The Villainess* is not on any streaming or rental service in Indonesia at the moment. It is available in 26 other countries; change your country at the top of the page to see where. Availability is checked daily.

**How violent or frightening is The Villainess, and is it suitable for children?**

*The Villainess* is an 18 certificate and is not suitable for children. The opening alone, several minutes of knife and blade killings seen through the assassin's own eyes, would earn the rating, and the later sword fight and axe finale are as bloody. The squeamish should know the violence is sustained and close; we found it exhilarating and a little sick in that order.

**How does The Villainess compare to Nikita?**

*The Villainess* retells the [*Nikita*](https://film.one/film/nikita) story in Korea with the volume up, and the two films differ most in what they care about. Besson's film knows the state's cruelty to the woman is the story and has Anne Parillaud to make it hurt; Jung Byung-gil keeps the agency and the sorrow as surfaces and pours his invention into the fights. *Nikita* is the better drama, *The Villainess* the better action film.

**What should I watch after The Villainess?**

After *The Villainess*, try [*Nikita*](https://film.one/film/nikita) (1990, Fi1m 76): The template, played straight; Besson cares what the state does to the woman. Then [*The Raid*](https://film.one/film/the-raid) (2011, Fi1m 83): One building, many corridors, no flashbacks; the fights speak for themselves.

### Reviews we read (18)

- **Empire**, Helen O'Hara (85/100, inferred): O'Hara gives the film a strongly positive verdict, despite finding its plotting overly complicated. She especially praises the dazzling, inventive action and the tenderness added by Sook-hee's relationship with her daughter. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/villainess-review/)
- **Little White Lies**, Claire Langlais (4/4/3): Langlais finds the film enjoyable overall, though its shaky storytelling keeps it from working as a whole. She praises the precisely choreographed action, singling out fights, a night motorbike chase, and an axe clash on a speeding bus. [Read](https://lwlies.com/reviews/the-villainess)
- **Radio Times**, Jamie Healy (4/5): He presents the film as an audacious, thrill-packed action extravaganza. He singles out its delirious opening sequence and praises how the director gradually reveals the heroine’s backstory. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-yzq6kb/the-villainess/)
- **The Guardian**, Simran Hans (4/5): Hans calls the film overstuffed and overcooked but riotously entertaining. She especially praises its climactic set piece, which combines apocalyptic rain, a bus, a machete and a self-driving car. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/sep/17/the-villainess-review-overstuffed-overdone-and-riotous-good-fun)
- **Time Out**, Anna Smith (4/5): The critic calls it a familiar but fun female-assassin thriller. They single out its energetic ride, while noting its debt to earlier films in the genre. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-villainess)
- **Screen Daily**, Allan Hunter (73/100, inferred): Hunter describes it as a visceral action thriller. The standfirst singles out Kim Ok-vin's energetic performance. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/the-villainess-cannes-review/5118349.article)
- **The AV Club**, Katie Rife (B-): Rife finds the film delivers overstuffed thrills but strains under familiar storytelling and a lack of innovation. She praises its boldly staged, visually striking action, especially the electrifying showdown aboard a speeding bus. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/the-villainess-paints-its-genre-thrills-with-a-broad-an-1798325342)
- **The Hollywood Reporter**, Deborah Young (70/100, inferred): Young calls it a high-voltage thriller whose character-focused stretches interrupt the action, but expects it to find a warm reception among international genre audiences. She praises the imaginative set pieces, especially the motorcycle chase and bus-set finale. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/villainess-review-1006369/)
- **The New York Times** (64/100, inferred): The page could not be accessed, so its verdict and specific praise or criticism cannot be verified. The URL identifies it as a New York Times review of The Villainess. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/24/movies/the-villainess-review.html)
- **RogerEbert.com**, Simon Abrams (2.5/4): Abrams finds the film an uneven but energetic action thriller. He praises its inventive, visceral action while faulting its familiar story. [Read](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-villainess-2017)
- **Slant Magazine**, Keith Watson (2.5/4): Watson finds the film’s action thrilling but its story convoluted and ultimately hollow. He praises its inventively staged, expertly choreographed action sequences, while faulting the plot for making Sook-hee’s revenge difficult to understand or connect with. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/the-villainess/)
- **Variety**, Maggie Lee (60/100, inferred): Lee finds the film a delirious, distinctive action spectacle, but says its muddled plotting and derivative melodrama undermine it. She singles out the kinetic choreography and opening sequence for praise, while criticizing the story’s excess and misogynistic treatment of its heroine. [Read](https://variety.com/2017/film/reviews/the-villainess-review-ak-nyeo-1202486083/)
- **Los Angeles Times**, Justin Chang (45/100, inferred): Chang finds the film’s action deliriously inventive but its character-driven storytelling wearying and ineffective. He especially praises Kim Ok-vin’s physical conviction and the film’s imaginative action sequences. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-the-villainess-review-20170824-story.html)
- **/Film**, Scott Beggs (8 out of 10): The critic calls the film a thrilling, innovative advance for action cinema. They especially praise its inventive, kinetically staged fight scenes and the surprising romantic-comedy turn. [Read](https://www.slashfilm.com/552097/the-villainess-review/)
- **Eye for Film**, Jennie Kermode (85/100, inferred): Kermode calls it a thrilling must-see for action fans, despite an overlong and overly sentimental ending. She particularly praises Kim’s emotionally raw performance and the film’s breathtaking, seamlessly assembled action sequences. [Read](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/the-villainess-2017-film-review-by-jennie-kermode)
- **Paste**, Andy Crump (7.1/10): Crump finds the film memorable and often thrilling, but weighed down by an overcomplicated plot and stalled pacing. He praises its inventive, wildly committed action and visual style. [Read](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/the-villainess/the-villainess)
- **HeyUGuys**, Gloria Daniels-Moss (65/100, inferred): The review finds the film impressive for its action but less successful as a story. It singles out the choreographed fights and striking camera work for praise, while criticizing the confusing narrative and weak emotional connection. [Read](https://www.heyuguys.com/the-villainess-review/)
- **The Playlist** (60/100, inferred): The headline suggests a mixed verdict: the action is terrific, but the storytelling is muddled. The critic singles out the action for praise and the storytelling for complaint. [Read](https://theplaylist.net/villainess-brings-terrific-action-muddled-storytelling-cannes-review-20170522/)

## Details

- **Director:** Jung Byung-gil
- **Director:** Jung Byung-gil
- **Screenplay:** Jung Byeong-sik
- **Writer:** Jung Byung-gil
- **Cinematography:** Park Jung-hoon
- **Editor:** Heo Sun-mi
- **Music:** Koo Ja-wan
- **Production design:** Kim Hee-jin
- **Costume design:** Chae Kyung-hwa
- **Producer:** Jung Byung-gil, Jung Byeong-sik, Moon Young-hwa
- **Cast:** Kim Ok-vin as Sook-hee; Shin Ha-kyun as Joong-sang; Sung Joon as Hyun-soo; Kim Seo-hyung as Kwon-sook; Jo Eun-ji as Kim Sun; Lee Seung-joo as Choon-mo; Jung Hae-kyun as Jang Chun; Park Cheol-min as Sook-hee's Father
- **Runtime:** 2h 09m
- **First release (France):** 21 May 2017
- **Genres:** Action, Thriller
- **Budget:** $125,000
- **Box office:** $9 million

## Where to watch in Indonesia

Not streaming, renting or buying in Indonesia at the last check.

Also available in: AR, AT, AU, BE, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, DE, DK, FI, FR, GB, HK, IE, IT, JP, KR, MX, NL, NO, NZ, PA, SE, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## Awards

- IFFR audience award 2018: IFFR audience award (nominated)

## If you liked this

- *Nikita* (1990), Fi1m 76: The template, played straight; Besson cares what the state does to the woman. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/nikita.md)
- *Lady Snowblood* (1973): A woman raised from birth for vengeance, with snow and arterial spray.
- *The Raid* (2011), Fi1m 83: One building, many corridors, no flashbacks; the fights speak for themselves. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-raid.md)
- *Sympathy for Lady Vengeance* (2005): Park Chan-wook’s revenge film knows exactly what its heroine has lost.
- *Hardcore Henry* (2015): Ninety minutes entirely in first person, for anyone who wanted the opening to continue.

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/the-villainess