Night of the Assassin Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.0

Night of the Assassin Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 2, 2023

Perhaps some more seasoned readers will recall the halcyon days of so-called "world premiere" television offerings which quite soon morphed into actual series like ABC's Movie of the Week, where you couldn't help but feel that at least some of the offerings on tap were what are often termed "back door" pilots for series. And indeed any number of broadcast television series owed their genesis to a "world premiere" Movie of the Week, or some such enterprise on another network. There's a somewhat similar feeling at play with regard to Night of the Assassin, which perhaps surprisingly is not a part of Well Go USA's Hi-Yah! streaming service, but instead had an actual honest to goodness theatrical release under the title The Assassin. Still, despite elements of the story that might suggest it wouldn't be a fulsome property to develop into a series, the story has certain aspects that rather strangely play almost like a domestic sitcom, despite the ostensible emphasis on martial arts and action mayhem.

Lee Nan (Shin Hyun-jun) is the titular hitman, at least until he finds out very early in the film that he's suffering from a debilitating condition which will kill him if he gets too amped up. That would seem to put the kibosh on his assassinating activities, and it's in the wake of that revelation that the film rather interestingly delves into more of an "accidental family" sidebar as Nan finds himself more or less employed by a roadside eatery owner (Kim Min-Kyung), who also has a semi-adorable son. Meanwhile, the word has gotten out that the once insurmountable Nan is now hampered by health problems, leading to the expected unavoidable conflict.

The film's tonal variances will either annoy or delight, depending on personal points of view, but the film is perhaps inarguably constrained by the very conceit of its hero being curtailed from any really ferocious activity due to his health issues. That means much of the film's energy is actually delivered via the interplay between Nan and his ostensible employer.

Night of the Assassin Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Night of the Assassin is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Well Go USA with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. I haven't been able to dredge up any authoritative technical information on the shoot, but this is a nice digital capture that I'm assuming had a 2K DI. A lot of the imagery is rather flat, but it's often very well detailed, offering good accountings on things like the textures on fabrics or some of the outdoor locations. Speaking of outdoor locations, there are a lot of interstitials of our hero walking through various environments, and those offer some perhaps surprisingly well rendered fine detail even in rather wide framings.

Night of the Assassin Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Night of the Assassin features an expressive DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. The film of course opens with an action sequence, and that may set the expectation bar a bit high in terms of what follows, since almost immediately thereafter, the fighting becomes understandably more intermittent once Lee finds out about his condition. Still, there are a glut of well placed ambient environmental sounds throughout the many outdoor locations. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

Night of the Assassin Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer (HD; 1:24)

Note: As tends to be the case with Well Go USA Blu-ray releases, the disc has been authored to automatically move on to trailers for other Well Go USA releases after the trailer for this film plays. Those trailers for other Well Go USA releases also play automatically at disc boot up.

Additionally, packaging features a slipcover.

Night of the Assassin Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Night of the Assassin probably needs to be approached without any expectations about seeing a so-called "martial arts movie", but even that may not be able to help elide the rather wide tonal variances at play in the film. There's a somewhat cartoonish aspect to elements involving both our hero and his pretty obvious romantic interest, as well some of the outsized villains, and that may chafe against a much more somber sensibility brought the film by the characterization of Shin Hyun-Joon, though admittedly that very seriousness is part of what helps supply humor to some of his interchanges with Kim Min-Kyung. Technical merits are solid for those who may be considering making a purchase.