When it comes to the world of underground agencies hiring out assassins, the John Wick franchise essentially laid out the rules we have come to expect from that subset of films. We’ve seen the format of the “one last job” that ends up becoming far more complicated, usually due to a blast from the past, where the protagonist, reaching retirement age, has to prove they’re the best in the game one last time. But in The Old Woman With the Knife, the legendary Hornclaw (Lee Hye-young) is still very much in the game and has no intentions of retiring when she faces off against a mysterious person from her past. The South Korean action-adventure film, directed by Min Kyu-dong and based on a novel of the same name by Gu Byeong-mo, nails all the assassin and revenge movie tropes in the head but cleverly twists them in unexpected ways, giving us a fresh and merciless take on the genre.
What Is ‘The Old Woman With the Knife’ About?

Hornclaw is a 60-year-old assassin who works for a “pest control” agency that takes out the “cockroaches” from society, essentially acting like a team of vigilantes. She is a legend of her time, and we witness her sordid backstory of being rejected and homeless until she finds a place with a small family. They give her shelter, food, and a job until, one day, she needs to defend herself from sexual assault, leading to the perpetrator’s death. Instead of kicking her out, Ryu (Kim Mu-yeol) trains her to become an assassin, changing her life forever.
In the present day, she is still working for the agency despite everyone’s quips about her age, while constantly fighting against the new agency head’s money-hungry ways. While still retaining her expert level of skill and bounty of experience, her hidden neurodegenerative disease often becomes an obstacle. Another wrench is thrown into her life as the agency hires Bullfight (Kim Sung-cheol), a young man who relishes the performative and painful kills he doles out. Turns out Bullfight and Hornclaw share a complicated history, leading to a spiral of revenge and survival as Hornclaw tries to figure out who he is and what he really wants.
‘The Old Woman With the Knife’ Subverts Our Expectations of Assassin and Revenge Tales

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The Old Woman With the Knife relentlessly runs through each of the tropes we expect to see in the genre, from the premise of the past coming back to haunt an experienced assassin to a psychologically taxing vengeance that includes threatening loved ones. So, as the story progresses, it is fairly easy to see which narrative beats are going to come, reducing the sense of anticipation and suspense between each plot point. While the film doesn’t try to do anything new with the genre itself, it ends up using this predictability against us, as it subtly twists each trope. As mentioned previously, instead of watching someone who is completing their last job or is already retired, Hornclaw is still an active agent, committed to her craft. Or even the agency that doesn’t just deliver assassins-for-hire and instead has a vigilante purpose. These unexpected additions make for an interesting viewing, whereas the twists in the later plot points (which I will not spoil) only make sense with the haunting revelation in the final scenes. It is one of those satisfying films that ties itself together in the last seconds.
The film is also far more atmospheric than you would expect from an action-adventure film, as it hones in on the tension and emotion of each narrative beat, which is a refreshing and compelling take on the genre. That’s not saying that it doesn’t deliver mesmerizing action sequences, with many of them being filmed in one continuous impressive shot. From the utterly brutal fighting style to the steady score, it is easy to believe how capable and dangerous these assassins are. The story is also riddled with flashbacks, each giving us a glimpse into why Hornclaw is the way she is, while drawing parallels from the past to the present. While intriguing, it disrupts the momentum and tension that the film generally sustains. Sometimes, the cast members are even swapped, where the younger version of Hornclaw, played by Shin Si-ah, is replaced by Hye-young in the memories. Without any visual distinction between the timelines, it can get disorienting as the film flicks between present and past, taking us out of the immersion momentarily.
‘The Old Woman With the Knife’s Cast Deliver Thrilling Performances

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Hornclaw herself is such a compelling character to center around in The Old Woman With the Knife, with Hye-young giving a scene-stealing performance despite the character’s deliberate unobtrusiveness. She is everything we expect a female assassin to be: clean, cutthroat, and pitiless in her kills, leaving limited or no mess behind, unlike her sadistic younger male counterpart. Yet when it is necessary, she doesn’t shy away from a bloody display, satiating every aspect we want from a cold killer. Hye-young delivers a taut and balanced performance as she conveys the assassin’s world-weary, onerous grimness as well as the encroaching threat of sentimentality while she confronts her new range of potential weaknesses. But the most impressive fact is that we believe this older woman is perfectly capable of killing someone ten times larger than her — it is always refreshing and exciting to see women of this age in genuinely badass roles.
While the film revolves around Hornclaw, her interactions with Bullfight are also intoxicating, as we never know who will gain the upper hand in their verbal and physical spars. Hye-young and Sung-cheol’s on-screen chemistry makes every word they say charged, veiled with threats we know they can easily carry out while still brushed with mystery as we also try and figure out their connection. With a sharp script to rely on and both delivering intense performances, the relationship and cat-and-mouse chase between Hornclaw and Bullfight are definitely the highlights of the film. Far more thoughtful and provocative than your average action-adventure, The Old Woman With the Knife is a thrilling update to the genre, leaving us with a hole in our hearts as the credits roll.
The Old Woman with the Knife is now playing in theaters.

The Old Woman with the Knife

‘The Old Woman With the Knife’ is a fresh update to the world of assassins and revenge.

Release Date

April 30, 2025

Runtime

123 minutes

Director

Min Kyu-dong

Writers

Min Kyu-dong

Pros & Cons

The film cleverly twists tropes we expect from assassin and revenge movies.
Hye-young and Sung-cheol’s performances and dynamics are intoxicating.
It is refreshing to watch an older woman in such a believably badass role.

Some narrative beats can be predictable.
The flashbacks sometimes disrupt the tension and pacing of the film.