A Shop for Killers

Underrated

A Shop for Killers is a pulse-pounding thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat from start to finish. With Lee Dong Wook and Kim Hye Joon leading the cast, the film dives into a labyrinth of conspiracies, high-octane action, and familial secrets.

Plot and Execution
The story begins with Jian (Kim Hye Joon), a young woman whose ordinary life is shattered by the suspicious death of her enigmatic uncle, Jeong Jin Man (Lee Dong Wook). What starts as an investigation into his supposed suicide quickly spirals into chaos as she becomes the target of relentless assassins, cutting-edge drones, and violent ambushes. Forced to rely on the unconventional skills her uncle taught her as a child, Jian fights to uncover the truth behind his death and her own mysterious past.

The plot’s relentless pacing and unexpected twists keep the audience hooked, while the film balances its action sequences with moments of emotional depth, particularly as Jian unravels her connection to her uncle’s shadowy world.

Performances
Kim Hye Joon is a revelation as Jian, delivering a fierce and vulnerable performance that captures the character’s transformation from an unsuspecting niece to a resourceful survivor. Lee Dong Wook, though appearing primarily in flashbacks, commands the screen as the enigmatic and stoic Jeong Jin Man. His character’s layered backstory adds a compelling depth to the narrative.

Strengths
Action Sequences: The fight choreography is meticulously crafted, blending raw intensity with stylish visuals.
Intriguing Premise: The blend of familial mystery and assassin intrigue creates a fresh take on the action-thriller genre.
Emotional Core: The relationship between Jian and her uncle, revealed through poignant flashbacks, adds emotional weight to the story.
Weaknesses
Overstuffed Plot: The film occasionally juggles too many subplots, leaving some threads underexplored.
Villains: While the assassins provide a physical threat, their motivations remain somewhat generic, weakening the stakes.
Cinematography and Soundtrack
The film’s sleek visuals and dynamic camerawork enhance its tension, while the score perfectly complements its adrenaline-fueled scenes and quieter, reflective moments.

Final Thoughts
A Shop for Killers is a thrilling ride that masterfully combines action and mystery with a deeply personal story. Kim Hye Joon and Lee Dong Wook deliver standout performances, elevating the film beyond its occasional narrative flaws. It’s a must-watch for fans of tightly packed action films with a touch of heart.

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Great and Thrillin

Wonderful series overall! At first I was like this is a very interesting story and it would be even more great if the fighting scenes were show. so the 1st couple of episodes I was so disappointed. By the end I was like the director writers and producers were geniuses. The story was shown by whoever’s perspective that particular episode was following. By the end I thought that was pretty cool. since my review has to be longer I’ll share some mundane information. so I love K dramas but my husband has it yet to enjoy them with me. this was the first drama. He watched with me and he loved it. at first, I thought I picked the wrong one to watch together because it started off so slowly. In the end he is looking forward to season 2

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Great story with great casting and lots of twists...

I really love this drama. From the beginning, the thrill is already felt. You won't have any hard time in understanding the plot because every episode has a flashback of how that part of their life started. The casting is also magnificent. As soon as I saw that Lee Dong Wook will be a main in here, I already decided to watch everything. Kim Hye Joon also made a great portrayal of her role as Jeong Jian. The young Jian also acted very well here. Also, the plot twist in the end where Jinman arrives is a really good ingredient for this one... Chef's kiss for this series..

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Highly recommended drama for action and thriller lovers.

Truly a MUST WATCH series!!!

I recommend it whole heartedly, it is THAT GOOD! The plot, the acting, the characters, relationships, the story execution, everything was so phenomenal! I swear a lot of people must be missing out on this great series as I see just a rating of 8.1. Guys just go for it you will fall in love with it in the process, and this series really deserves all the love.


And, how can I forget Lee Dong-wook! He is superb in his role. His and the niece's bond is also too lovely.

I must mention this, that I really appreciated the fact that they included a whole episode to show the back-story of Jinman, at that point you will realize that he is definitely the main character, even though the niece has more screen space than him.

Overall, awesome series! This is my first time leaving a review, that's because I really want this series to get the much deserve attention.

Hope they bring in a season 2, I need it desperately lol.

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Honestly, I sometimes wondered if I should give it an 8/10 or a 9/10 (ESPECIALLY FOR SO FEW EPISODES, DAMN), but in the end I decided like this and I think that this is exactly the rating the series deserves. As soon as it started, I was thinking about watching it right away (especially because Dongwook is in it lol), but I only got around to it now and I don't regret it. It's awesome! It was really great and I enjoyed every second of it. The cast was amazing, the plot was amazing (even though I got confused a few times whether we were in the present or the past) and most of all I liked how they told us what and how it happened and how Dongwook met the other characters using the past (and then everything started to make more sense and it was like, AHA). It was really amazing and I can only recommend it and pray that they make another series for us as soon as possible (they say it should be, so we'll see)

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"“Whatever makes you scared, keep your eyes open and face it.”

There are so many Quotes which i love a lot in this drama. SPOILER ALERT!!!! I love the cinematography as well as stunts etc. I love LDW in this series, he is so LIT , it makes you wonder what he is eating to maintain his body during his 40's. I love LDW as uncle and he has so much scope in this series. Even his niece also acted very well with him. The small girl as his niece should definitely win the award for her acting in 1st few episodes. It so hard to pull for young child artists like her. I love her uncle(Jeong Jinman) who setup the mall and his house designs are on top level, he knows that Bale will attack him and his niece. In this series, they promote the "Girl's power" i love his niece and min-hye too , min-hye and her action sequences are LIT in this series and i also watched the BTS of it too. Bale is totally psychopath and why did Jeong Jinman forgave him? and if he had stopped him at that time itself nobody will have died now, he saved him from it, instead he goes and kills all his family members except Jeong Jinman. The question is that "WHEN WILL BE SEASON 2 BE AIRED? I want to see Jeong Jinman and niece killing bale in it. I am so excited to see our trio who helped jian when her uncle is not present with them. I was wondering did her uncle went to on hide due to his injuries which her niece's fake friend did it or he did because to test her niece is capable of protecting his shopping mall.

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Good packaging and additional features make up for the defective item.

Just watch for the fight scenes and the glamorous presentation otherwise ignore this

There are many flaws in it, like being a professional person he did not teach his niece the complete package. If someone of my own was in such a profession, I would have become an expert. I do not wait for the situation to dig a well when I feel thirsty. When you know that you might feel thirsty, why shouldn't I dig a well beforehand, just like he knew that his niece is the target. From the beginning itself I knew that Park Ji Bin/Bae Jung Min is the villain because I have seen exactly the same story many times in other drama movies, only the profession and motive of the story was different. Things were predictable for me. If the main villain's entry had happened in the 1st episode, then anyone could have predicted it. Those who have been watching dramas for so many years have learned to observe something. The writer here he played smartly, he did not reveal all his cards at once, otherwise it would have been easy to judge the situation. And that is why the story is engaging, story telling is good. The female lead did not use the glasses given by Lee Tae Young or I missed something.And who would force his niece to become the owner of such an organization? Firstly, her life is in danger because she is your family and on top of that, you are making her the owner of arms smuggling. Which is of no benefit to her. Now, you say that if you want to leave, you can go through the back door. Don't you think this option should be given before signing the document? And I am shocked by the stupidity of the male lead's supporter. Making the girl the owner and standing her against the enemies to save her can never be a proper option. If you have been given the responsibility of her protection , then you should run away with her and hide. When you feel that she is capable of protecting herself, bring her back. Good technology devices, gorgeous actors with good stylish clothes, locations and some underworld terms have presented it well otherwise there is nothing in this story, it is illogical. And in the end it was too much, all the actors are doing stupid things in the last episode especially the female lead who is roaming here and there lol. I liked the presentation of gun fight, fight scenes and the writer made such an illogical drama engaging. My rating is not for the whole overall package but for some selected things which I have already mentioned.

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Si va all'Inferno? .... NOT TODAY!

Action-thriller sudcoreano di 8 episodi, ciascuno della durata di un'ora che mescola generi differenti con un ritmo e un livello di suspance molto buono. La trama ruota attorno a un negozio dove si svolgono attività legate al mondo degli assassini e della vendetta.
La storia di Jingman , un uomo sulla quarantina, che vende sotto copertura nel dark web armi da guerra e dove gli acquirenti hanno tutti dei codici, a seconda dei loro obiettivi e delle loro possibilità.
Tra intrighi, segreti e colpi di scena, lo spettacolo esplora tematiche come la vendetta e la sopravvivenza, affrontando qualche parallelismo col mondo animale nel senso di predatori-carnefici e vittime. Solleva anche qualche interrogativo etico ma trattandolo in modo del tutto particolare.
Il racconto propone due fazioni nemiche, e sviluppa gli eventi in modo del tutto disordinato, presentando il presente in quasi ogni episodio ma pezzi del passato ad inizio puntata, sta allo spettatore mettere insieme i pezzi. Comunque dopo il 7° si ha una chiara e definitiva visione di insieme anche se si inizia a capire tutto da inizio quarto.

Pro: narrazione intensa e avvincente, tutto nella narrazione ha un ritmo molto "lanciato", non ci sono momenti morti o di noia per lo spettatore, i colori sono prevalentemente scuri e le scene all'aperto hanno filtri dai toni caldi, quasi seppia per creare un'atmosfera visiva che sottolinea il tono oscuro, nostalgico e inquietante della serie. Questo effetto cromatico aiuta a trasmettere inoltre la sensazione di un mondo grigio e moralmente ambiguo, riflettendo il passato tormentato dei personaggi e l'ambiente pericoloso in cui si muovono. L'uso di un tono caldo che vira sui toni del seppia trasmette un senso di malinconia e di memoria, enfatizzando il peso emotivo e la complessità della trama che ruota attorno a segreti, vendetta e sopravvivenza in un contesto clandestino.

Ottima caratterizzazione dei personaggi : ogni personaggio, soprattutto quelli secondari, è reso in modo particolare, dal vestiario alla gestualità, mimica, capacità di combattimento e non mancheranno i colpi di scena.
I killer sono ben costruiti, nel senso che ognuno ha scelta questa strada per motivazioni diverse e gestisce questa scelta emotivamente attraverso riflessioni del tutto arbitrarie che però per loro hanno un senso.
Interessantissima costruzione di un personaggio passivo aggressivo con un senso di inadeguatezza fortissimo che ne determinerà scelte cruciali. Occhio al colpo di scena finale.
Per le due attrici femminili (Jian e Minye) sono forti gli influssi di Besson (Renò - caschetto e tuta per la protagonista femminile e Kill Bill di Tarantino, taglio di capelli e fisicità che richiamano la versione comics del personaggio iconico di O-ren Ishi).
Il personaggio villain di Bale inoltre richiama molto quello di David Corradine per totale assenza di umanità ed etica deontologica (che persino i killer hanno).

Lotte ben coreografata con momenti indimenticabili e suggestivi: sopratutto il personaggio di Minye e Paisin (che nella realtà pratica il taekwoondo ), regalano delle scene di lotta molto interessanti, con sfoggio di notevoli doti atletiche e buona interpretazione dei gesti tecnici. Non ci sono solo sparatorie ma anche scontri a corpo libero con armi bianche dove vince l'ingegno, e la velocità nello schivare i colpi (queste ultime molto interessanti per me, più dei cani droni o della infinita varietà di armi presentate nel corso degli episodi).

Grande varietà di armi:
numerose tipologie di armi quali pistole, fucili e mitragliatrici, droni , cani robot, sono frequentemente utilizzati nei combattimenti e nelle sparatorie tra killer e mercenari.
Armi bianche: Coltelli di vario tipo, lame e altre armi da taglio sono impiegate soprattutto dagli assassini specializzati nel combattimento ravvicinato.
Esplosivi: Bombe e ordigni da guerra.
Veleni: come metodo alternativo per eliminare i bersagli.
Strumenti per lo spionaggio: quali videocamere, spie, o droni .

Influssi alla Tarantino , sia a livello pulp che kill bill come stile narrativo ( meno di lotta). Questo punto è una mia riflessione personale, sottolineo.

Ost da Rave: La colonna sonora è composta da 56 brani che si possono trovare su spotify, ogni brano rappresenta un personaggio o un'azione riflettendo un notevole impegno nella preparazione di un prodotto curato a 360°. Ho molto apprezzato l'utilizzo di brani tecno core , synth, con bassi profondi e suoni sintetici, incalzanti nelle parti più coreografiche di lotta che venivano proposte in slow motion (fine episodio 5).

Contro: approfondimento psicologico dei personaggi parzialmente sviluppato, è un lavoro che investe sull'azione a discapito dell'emozione, primi piani presenti ma pochi dialoghi di tipo emotivo, eppure gli insegnamenti dello zio alla nipote, che erano una parte molto interessante del lavoro avrebbero dovuto trovare più spazio. A livello pedagogico l'ho trovato inoltre spesso discutibile e fuori luogo ma ci sta con la forma mentis di gente che doveva muoversi e pensare veloce per garantirsi di "non andare all'inferno oggi".

Intepretazioni disomogenee come livello complessivo: ho trovato alcuni attori davvero degni di nota, come Minye (sempre se non sia la sua controfigura), Pasin , Brother e il killer Seonjo (il cleptomane con una spiritualità sui generis). Bravissimo anche Park Ji Bin perché è stato lui il colpo di scena più inaspettato di tutta la serie.
Meno bravi i protagonisti, Lee Dong Wook mi ha trasmesso poco a sto giro, l'unico episodio in cui mi è sembrato al solito come bravura è stato il 7, la protagonista brava nelle scene d'azione ma meno intensa e profonda nella resa emotiva a livello di espressione sul volto, si caratterizzava più che altro per smorfie di paura e totale assenza di terrore. Peggio ancora per la bimba che la interpreta quando la protagonista aveva 7 anni.
Tuttavia, se piacciono i drama con una trama intricata, personaggi complessi e un tocco di noir, "A Shop for Killers" è una scelta perfetta!

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A Shop for Killeré um daqueles dramas que dei "play" pelo simples fato do protagonista ser o Lee Dong Wook. O enredo do drama parecia instigante, mas a execução deixou muito a desejar. Faltou carisma a sobrinha do Jeong Jin Man e só segui assistindo por um curiosidade mórbida sobre como a história se encerraria.

A forma como o diretor decidiu iniciar a história, com a "merda sendo atirada no ventilador", na minha opinião, não ajudou muito a criar uma conexão com as personagem. Confesso que só lá pelo episódio 5 comecei a me importar de fato com os rumos da histórias, ou com a vida de alguns personagens. Mas mais pela história do Jeong Jin Man do que pela sobrinha. No geral os personagem são todos insuportavelmente odiosos, com exceção da Minhye, do Pasin e do próprio Jeong Jin Man.

E apesar da morte de um certo personagem não ter me convencido desde o início, aquela cena final foi bem anticlímax diante de tudo que ocorreu momentos antes. Mas um final que deixa aberto a possibilidade de uma continuação.

Recomendaria apenas para pessoas que gostam de assistir muitas explosões, mortes violentas e não se importam tanto com verossimilhança, pois a história em si não tem muito a acrescentar.

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Pim pam pum tengo una pistola....

8 capitulos,pero menudos capitulos. Debo de admitir que me he quedado mas por la historia y los recuerdos que tiene del pasado que en si, como sobrevive a semejante armagedón. Me ha gustado mucho el personaje del tío y su historia. He echado en falta mas escenas con su sobrina pero quiero pensar que con ese final hay una segunda temporada y tendré esas escenas que tanto quiero. La chica a veces me desesperaba con sus decisiones pero luego pensaba que yo sería igual e incluso peor porque me hubiera muerto ya.
Necesitamos una segunda temporada para conocer que pasó con Bale, el jefe , Jinman, Minhye , Rasin y bueno en si ver mas de la tienda y como funciona.
Me ha hecho gracia como una escena ha podido modificar tanto la puntuación que iba a dar, ese regreso en taxi de Jinman , ha sido espectacular.
Me ha dado pena perder al hermano de Brother.....

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