BALLERINA
Korea, 2023, 92 minutes, Colour.
Kim Ji-Hoon, Jeon Jong-seo, Park Yu-rim.
Directed by Chung-Hyun Lee.
Revenge/vigilante action thriller from Korea. As soon as the film appeared on Netflix, bloggers were referring to Kill Bill, to the John Wick series, to Denzel Washington and the Equaliser series and to Liam Neeson action shows. In this review will refer to the precedent for women action hero is, especially Jennifer Lopez in
This is very much a film for female audiences, the central characters, for the action, detection, heroics, and the confrontation of male predators and exploiters. And, with this type of film, the action is often quite graphic, the body count (male) is very high with quite a climactic sequence where the central character confronts the chief villain, human traffic, in the context of a huge complex for drug growth and production, no survivors.
We are introduced to the central character, formerly a security guard, stepping in to pay for her groceries while a young man at the counter is being attacked by punks thugs. She make short work of them. Then we see a ballet dancer, her falling during a production, her phone call to the security guard asking for help, killing herself but leaving a note with a clue and asking to be avenged.
Following the clue leads to a range of discoveries, but especially an encounter with a suave and handsome young man whose name responds to the clue. She goes home with him, he tries to drug her, thinking that he has succeeded, proceeding to film sadomasochistic behaviour but her turning on him, fighting, slashing his cheek, helped by a girl in the premises which turns out to be the headquarters for human trafficking and the man himself having a catalogue of videos of his sexual activity.
The leader of the trafficking business commands the young man to eliminate the security guard and there is a confrontation but she escapes. The young man pretends that he has killed her.
As the security guard makes friends with the young woman she rescued, she decides not to go to the police, but does some training at a rifle range, gets a contact for buying a gun – and the slightly comic scene with a rather benign elderly couple arriving with a van full of weapons, eager on sales and demonstrations.
Which leads then to the ultimate confrontation, no holds barred, the destruction of the drug plantation, the elimination of the boss and the crew, and the final judgement on the beach (there have been flashbacks of the friendship with the two women throughout the film and the beach is the ballerina’s favourite secret Place), the man brought to judgement, his pleas, his defiance, death, and a flamethrower.
For action fans it is quite well done. For many audiences, the vigilante violence might be too much. But, ballerina, is a competent Korean version of this kind of revenge thriller.
