The Childe Blu-ray Review

 

• Director ‏ : ‎ Park Hoon-Jung
• Actors ‏ : ‎ Kim Seon-ho, Kang Tae-ju, Kim Kang-woo, Go A-ra, Heo Joon Seok
• Language ‏ : ‎ Korean (DTS 5.1)
• Studio ‏ : ‎ Well Go Usa
• MPAA rating ‏ : ‎ NR (Not Rated)
• Country of Origin ‏ : ‎ USA
• Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 1
• Media Format ‏ : ‎ Subtitled, Widescreen
• Run time ‏ : ‎ 1 hour and 58 minutes
• Release date ‏ : ‎ January 16, 2024

         One of my favorite things to do is to watch movies I know nothing about. This is the purest way to enjoy a film, especially for someone who watches as many as I do. Often even just the theatrical trailer is enough to potentially spoil any narrative twists, so there is something refreshing about allowing the filmmaker to reveal each plot point in their own time. Unfortunately, even though The Childe has several secrets that it slowly reveals throughout the run-time, I was easily able to guess what they were, even without the assistance of promotional materials. While I was still able to enjoy the spectacle contained within the plot, I wish the direction of the narrative had been less obvious.

 

        For those as unfamiliar with the premise as I was prior to pressing play, The Childe is a South Korean darkly comedic thriller about an impoverished young man living in the Philippines who finds himself in a world of trouble after taking a trip to meet his estranged father in South Korea. Marco (Kang Tae-Ju) is a boxer struggling to make ends meet, resorting to gambling in hopes of making enough money to pay for a much-needed operation for his mother. When a stranger appears with an offer to travel to South Korea to meet his father and obtain the money to save his mother, Marco quickly agrees despite his skepticism.

 

        Upon arriving in the country, Marco finds the situation is much more complicated than he first imagined, with his two half siblings fighting over control of their father’s lucrative company. But before Marco can even meet this unsavory pair, he is kidnapped by a wild and enigmatic stranger who is listed only as Nobleman (Kim Seon-ho) in the credits. This nobleman’s intentions are not initially clear and Marco is thrown into a situation where he is uncertain who is helping him and who would rather see him dead.

 

        Much of the film’s enjoyment comes from a series of chase sequences, with Marco escaping from dangerous situations while remaining clueless about who he can trust. The audience is also largely kept in the dark, though clever viewers will likely pick up on clues long before the plot makes the twists explicitly clear. Fortunately, even without being surprising, I found nearly all of The Childe an enjoyable watch. The action is handled well, even though there was more of an emphasis on humor than I was expecting from Park Hoon-jung, the director of I Saw the Devil and New World. The humor also helps the film maintain a certain irreverence, which makes it a little easier to accept the completely unbelievable climactic showdown.

 

        The Blu-ray release for The Childe doesn’t come with any special features to speak of, but the highly polished visuals are enhanced by the high-definition presentation. Fans of South Korean thrillers and action films should add this to their list, though there are plenty of options that should likely be placed higher on that list.

 

Entertainment Value: /10

Quality of Filmmaking: /10

Historical Significance:  /10

Special Features: /10