Creative fight choreography and full-on violence is one thing, but what really blew me away about THE VILLAINESS was the cinematography. I can’t even begin to imagine how they achieved some of these impossible shots. For once a POV action scene isn’t jarring, in fact the gang hideout slaughter that opens the film is smooth and seamless. It doesn’t just look like someone’s just holding a camera at head height either, with the view shifting naturally as a person’s head would move to, for instance, avoid a machete flying towards your face. The spectacle is no less jaw-dropping elsewhere, particularly a death-defying (for the camera operator as well as the stunt performers if it was done for real) and ridiculous three-way bike chase/sword fight. Deliberately elusive storytelling is made even tricksier by non-linear plotting and a lead character (Kim Ok-bin) that changes her face halfway through, but if you make the effort and concentrate this is a satisfying, deliciously dark, and far from straightforward affair. SSP