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The Killer
Movie

The Killer

2022 • Action, Crime, Thriller

Woke Score
2
out of 10

Plot

A retired hitman agrees to take care of a teen aged girl, but when she becomes involved with unsavory people, he has to rescue her.

Overall Series Review

The film focuses on a retired hitman forced back into action to rescue a teenage girl from a human trafficking ring. The narrative is a straightforward, action-driven story of a protector against clear moral evil. Character motivation stems from a fundamental moral code, where the protagonist is driven by a need to protect innocence and his family, contrasting sharply with the amoral, ruthless villains. The plot centers on skill and determination overcoming pure depravity. The themes are universal: a man defending the weak and innocent from powerful, corrupt figures. There is no political or ideological lecturing, with the conflict being one of clear good versus evil in a brutal crime environment.

Categorical Breakdown

Identity Politics2/10

The conflict is based on individual depravity versus personal moral code; the identity of the characters, primarily all Korean, is not a factor in the conflict. Meritocracy of skill is paramount, as the protagonist must rely on his training to defeat the criminal network. The villains include characters of various economic and social statuses, and their evil is purely transactional and self-serving, not a lecture on systemic privilege or racial hierarchy.

Oikophobia2/10

The movie criticizes a very specific criminal element within Korean society, namely a corrupt judge and a trafficker, rather than condemning the entire nation or its civilization. The protagonist is an elite figure who fights to protect a victim, demonstrating a protective instinct toward the vulnerable members of his own community. The film does not frame Korean culture as fundamentally corrupt or racist; it simply depicts a high-stakes crime drama.

Feminism3/10

The main villain in the trafficking operation is a woman, the stepmother of the victim, which subverts the idea that only men are toxic or villainous. The primary female characters are either a villain or a victim, with the protagonist’s wife being the emotional anchor and motivation for his protective nature. Men are not universally emasculated; the male protagonist is a highly competent, lethal protector, and his masculinity is protective. The score is only slightly elevated because the teenage girl is largely a passive figure requiring rescue, but this is a function of the human trafficking plot, not an explicit political message.

LGBTQ+1/10

The story adheres to a normative structure, focusing on the retired assassin, his wife, and the teenage girl he must protect. Sexual themes are confined to the criminal activity of human trafficking, which is unequivocally depicted as evil. The movie contains no explicit centering of alternative sexualities, queer theory, or gender ideology, and the nuclear family is treated as the primary emotional motivation for the hero’s actions.

Anti-Theism1/10

The movie is a secular crime thriller with no focus on religious institutions or figures. Morality is instead framed in a secular but absolute sense, with the protagonist fighting for the objective good of protecting an innocent life. The narrative does not contain any anti-Christian tropes or messages. The conflict is grounded in tangible, criminal evil, not a critique of traditional faith.