This film sporadically flips back and forth between glimpses of the lead character's pitiful childhood and the happier memories of the mother with her daughter. The contrast is heartbreaking. Unfortunately, the film spent too much time focusing on the back story of these emotionally torn characters instead of hard core action. The hit man, Gon and the mother, Mo-Gyeong are in their own private anguish yet entwined because he decides to protect her. Defending her from his boss is when the action in the movie amps up. It just takes awhile to get there. The depressed finality in Gon makes him more brutal. The fight sequences were graphic and the pools of blood extreme. Jang Dong-gun did a good job with Gon’s merciless demeanor while fighting. His resolve made him an invincible opponent. The director highlights this once when they cut away from an impending fight only to show the aftermath of his skills. I was impressed by the assumption that the result of the fight had a foregone conclusion. There was a big array of gangsters in this film. I didn't particularly like the swearing tantrums of one of the bad guys because it seemed overly dramatic and silly. The menacing nature of another underling was better suited to the general tone of the gangsters. My favorite baddie was Choaz, an ex-associate of Gun's. They had the more entertaining interactions in the movie. It was a relationship I would have liked to have seen more of. It was interesting to see the dialogue switch between Korean, English and some casual Spanish. However, the characters overall conversations were lacking. This film focused more on telling the story through facial expressions and actions than by using words. I couldn't help but think the director was trying to make it like his other film, The Man from Nowhere. It didn't play as well though. There were some fast paced action scenes when they did play out. There was an impressive shootout scene, a slice and dice knife fight and a great cat and mouse sequence that reminded me of the Hollywood Die Hard films. Above all else, I would watch this movie for Jang Dong-gun’s action scenes. They were pretty amazing.