Kingdom: Ashin of the North Review – A Decent Zombie Themed Revenge Thriller

What Is the Story About?

Young Ashin tries to find a rumored special plant to cure her mother by entering the Pyesa-gun forest. Her father, the chief of her village, forbids her from entering the forest, when he finds out, as the last group of people who entered the forest was massacred by a tiger. She is not deterred, but she keeps her promise. But one night, when her father is out of town, her mother’s condition gets worse. She has to now race against time to find the plant – or risk her mother dying. Will she be able to get the plant in time?

Performances?

While there are some interesting side-characters in the form of Ashin’s father, Ta-hab (portrayed by Kim Roi-ha) and Deputy Commander from Chupajin, Min Chi-rok (portrayed by Park Byung-eun), Jun Ji-hyun’s Ashin (the titular character) is who we follow throughout (mostly) the movie. Two actresses play said titular character – young Kim Si-a who portrays a younger version of the character during the first half of the film, while Jun Ji-hyun portrays the older version of the character in the latter half. While all aforementioned actors do an admirable job, Jun Ji-hyun’s performance stands out as the best in this movie.

Analysis

The film starts off quite well, showing us how zombies are made, right from the get-go. The early CGI action sequence where the deer eats “The Plant”, becomes a zombie and then decides to attack a tiger is quite brilliant. That portion as well as the depiction of the animals’ “zombie” transformation on a stone mural, as a plot device is also well done.

The CGI and the cinematography are the two constant things that stay good throughout the movie. The early tiger chase sequences were quite thrilling and the reveal of the bloody, zombified animal was scary and epic at the same time. The cinematography, as mentioned earlier, is great and it incorporates the beautiful scenic locations on-screen perfectly.

The first half of the film went surprisingly well and it would keep most first-time viewers interested with its unique setting. The onscreen dynamics of Ashin & Ta-hab, Ta-hab & Min Chi-rok and eventually, Ashin & Min Chi-rok was well-written, portrayed and remained attention grabbing throughout.

However, the pacing of this film was all over the place. The movie was 92 minutes long, but we feel that it could easily have been a 70-minute movie. The film starts out well, set at a good pace – giving us a quick idea of the three important locations early on as well as the lore behind the Joseon people and Jurchens. The first half remains relatively well paced, but the end of the first half and most of the second half has a very erratic pace. A few shots of actors staring off into the distance gets irritating when repeated too many times – which it does.

However, upon saying that, the second half was decidedly better than the first half. While the first half is mostly the setup of the movie, the second half contains the main portion of the story, which also shows us the actual transformation of the lead character, Ashin – from a young carefree girl into a dangerous warrior/ assassin. Don’t get us wrong, young Kim Si-a does an admirable job as Ashin in the first half, but her performance comes off as wooden at times. There were some scenes where she excelled and some were just bad. We blame the direction on that one though.

While the pace of the second half was all over the pace (like we mentioned earlier), Jun Ji-hyun breathes new life into a character that is slowly becoming tedious to watch on-screen (again, not young Kim-Sia’s fault). The actress brings a depth to a role that her younger counterpart is ready for just yet and her character development during every scene is what keeps us going throughout the rest of the film. There are a lot of very slow scenes where Jun Ji-hyun doesn’t do anything in particular, and while some of those scenes get irritating, the actress does manage to do justice to her role, in a few scenes of a similar setting.

The film also has a couple of unexpected twists throughout the film, which works well in its favor. Each twist shapes Ashin’s personality as she slowly descends into madness. In fact, check out the movie to see Jun Ji-hyun’s acting when the thrilling twists are revealed.

Overall, Kingdom: Ashin of The North is a decent revenge film that is set around a zombie outbreak. This is a different kind of zombie thriller, quite different from the usual “zombie outbreak” feature films, which is a refreshing take on the genre. The movie can get slow however, so prepare yourself for a bit of an irritating ride.

Other Artists?

Ta-hab who is portrayed by Kim Roi-ha and Deputy Commander from Chupajin, Min Chi-rok who is portrayed by Park Byung-eun are the other two main characters besides Ashin. Kim Roi-ha has a smaller role among the other three main characters, but he portrays the character with limited screen time with a good amount of depth. The character of Min Chi-rok surprisingly (or unsurprisingly) has little to no character development throughout this film. But the script and the actor especially gives depth to the character and  Park Byung-eun does a good job in his portrayal.

Music and Other Departments?

Kim Seong-hun directs this special movie which bridges the gap between the second and third season of the Korean horror thriller series ‘Kingdom’ and he has done an adequate job. Sure, there are some questionable choices that he makes – for actors and quite a few close up shots, but it is a decent movie all around. The music, CGI and cinematography also deserve special mentions as well. South Korean playwright, Kim Eun-hee writes the script for this film and has done an admirable job.

Highlights?

CGI & Cinematography

The twists in the second half of the movie

Jun Ji-hyun’s performance

Drawbacks?

Unnecessarily dragging

Wooden acting performance (in some parts) by young Kim Si-a

Bad pacing

Did I Enjoy It?

Yes.

Will You Recommend It?

Yes.

Kingdom: Ashin of the North Review by Binged Bureau