Sightlines · reception

How The Villainess was received

2017 · Jung Byung-gil · The Villainess on Sightlines

The arc

It detonated at its Cannes 2017 Midnight Screening — a lengthy standing ovation for the action alone — and the split formed instantly: peerless set pieces, tangled melodrama in between. Nearly a decade on, the action has won the argument; it's now shorthand for 2010s Korean action at its most audacious.

What’s debated

The eternal Letterboxd back-and-forth: are the between-fight melodrama and time-hopping plot a flaw, or is 'watch it for the action' the whole point?

Its footprint

Its motorcycle sword fight was openly borrowed by Hollywood — Chad Stahelski acknowledged it inspired the motorcycle chase in John Wick: Chapter 3 — and the first-person opening corridor fight remains one of the most clipped-and-shared action sequences of its decade.

Where it stands

A fixture of 'best action scenes of the 2010s' lists and one-take supercuts — the action-cinephile deep cut that's no longer all that deep.

Did you know? Director Jung Byung-gil is a former stuntman and stunt-school graduate — his first feature was Action Boys (2008), a documentary about his own stunt-school classmates — which is why he shot the action from the stunt performer's point of view.