The Childe offers up yet another action crime thriller gem, from South Korea. There's a darkly devilish quality to the back story, that's married up with brutal, fast paced action and a dysfunctional humour that, placed in this context, is inappropriately, appropriate. In summary, fast paced, engaging, with a wickedly dark back story and humour, that simply works. A must watch.

A standard action Korean flick, if it weren't for the scarce elevated violence it wouldn't have been as watchable. The writer seems to be slipping a bit too much for what would have been obvious. The main character is a boxer and that's how we were introduced to him but being a boxer didn't play any role into the narrative. There were many other examples of that. More often than not, whenever a character is trying to act "cool" it came across as cheesy since there is a clear lack in world building and character development.

Ultimately, _The Childe_ continues the South Korean trend of refreshing character driven thrillers that are on completely different levels than the typical Hollywood film. With a neo-noir bent expertly crafted to highlight the exquisite performances of its cast and the absolutely breathtaking bloodshed of its action sequences, not to mention Seon-ho’s overwhelmingly enjoyable performance as quite possibly the coolest character of 2023, _The Childe_ is a true masterpiece of violence. **Full review**: https://bit.ly/boxerwoes