‘Kill It’…A grounded & all-out brilliant action thriller.
Spoilers Ahead…
There is just a different kind of joy to watching a well-written, well-executed, well-acted, action thriller unfold. It’s a sort of a high, and after watching the terrific Kill It, it’s definitely taking it’s time to sober me down.
From the afar, Kill It is just like any other thriller/mystery drama, with a corrupt businessman running an illegal operation, which has altered the lives of our protagonists in disastrous ways. As they return to seek answers and revenge, the mystery of what exactly happened those many years ago, goes on to define the narrative and the purpose of these characters.
It’s textbook; yet it never feels like one, because despite it’s sci-fi-ish origin, the drama to a great extent is rooted in reality, specifically concentrating on our limits as human beings.
Take Kim Soo Hyun, the main protagonist (an excellent Jang Ki Yong), a vet who moonlights as an assassin. There is no job that he has failed and if up against someone, it is clear that he will slip out unharmed, no matter the situation. He has no qualms regarding the morality of the job — as he tells Ko Hyun Woo (Jo Han Chul), he does it to survive — and is extremely observant, intuitive, and calm, even in the face of danger.
But, while he does seem like a sort of superhuman (the high as mentioned earlier is attributed to watching Soo Hyun coolly complete his missions), he is not a hero and can’t be one either.
He can’t know everything, be everywhere and can’t save everyone. There are people who he is unable to save, and there are times when the villains, Do Jae Hwan (Jung Hae Kyun) and Joo Young Hoon (Jeon Jin Ki) get away with their plan. That’s why it makes sense that there are multiple people working to take down Do Jae Hwan and so, even with an unbeatable protagonist, the stakes are always high.
The humanness is extended to the villains as well, especially Park Tae Soo (Lee Dong Kyu), who make very stupid decisions, not once but thrice which often lands him in trouble — a reminder that he isn’t some criminal mastermind, but just an overconfident henchman.
Kill It, is one of those shows where you figure out the mystery before the characters do, but there are more than enough (and plausible) twists to keep you hooked.
It is not until the very end that the show explicitly reveals what is it that Do Jae Hwan is doing, so it is up to us to put the pieces together. In this regard, I loved the show’s usage of flashbacks, though minimal, the manner in which they are inserted, make us question the length of Do Jae Hwan’s illegal operation.
Nana (who’s first drama I am watching) is superb as Do Hyun Jin, and it is only this aspect that I wished the drama had dipped into more, like her relationship with her adoptive parents, and her past. I understand that some of it had to be sidestepped to concentrate on Soo Hyun and his growing knowledge of his past, but it was one part of the show that left me wanting more.
Nevertheless, Kill It is bold and daring and if you are fan of action thrillers, it’s a drama that shouldn’t be missed.
