Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.0

The Childe Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman January 14, 2024

The Childe may be a none too subtle entry in the "so you think your family has problems?" subgenre, if such a subgenre actually exists. This cartwheeling story follows a young "half breed", part Korean, part Filipino, and referred repeatedly in a pejorative way as "Kopino", named Marco (Kang Tae-joo). Marco "works" in a kind of quasi-Fight Club where he seeks to earn enough scratch to get his seriously ill Filipino mother needed medical attention, but even his best efforts (which according to some of the boxing sequences scattered throughout the story are pretty darned impressive) aren't enough to secure enough scratch to make his attempts to rescue dear old Mom a reality. Marco has therefore been on the hunt for the Korean father he's never known, which is the McGuffin that drives this film's rather calamitous plot machinations. Almost immediately, Marco finds himself a seeming pawn in some sort of conspiracy, and he's surrounded by a gaggle of extremely mysterious characters, including an already introduced hitman going by the code name Nobleman (Kim Seon-ho). If the ultimate denouement makes everything the very essence of a shaggy dog story, The Childe still has a lot of visceral action to sustain interest, though the plot is ultimately full of at least as many holes as end up pock marking any number of objects once rampant gunfire explodes.

The ultimate "reveal" of The Childe won't be spoiled here, other than to say it undeniably mimics any number of other films, including another South Korean effort that Well Go USA released almost a decade ago, Traffickers. Suffice it to say that when Marco is kind of miraculously put in putative touch with his Korean father, who is also mortally ill, all is not as it seems, and the reason so many seem to want to get Marco to dear old Dad's bedside is not necessarily benign. That upshot (emphasis on the shot part, per that above allusion to rampant gunfire) comes rather late in the proceedings, just one of several "Moishe the Explainer" moments that are somewhat shoehorned into the chaos.

Suffice it to say a veritable gaggle of supporting characters surround Marco in addition to Nobleman. These include an apparently random woman named Yoon-ju (Go Ara), an ostensible half brother named Han Yi-sa (Kim Kang-woo), and Yi-sa's little sister Han Ga-young (Jeong Ra-el). The oddest sidebar character, at least within the context of the rather convoluted conspiracy surrounding Marco, might be a seemingly kindly man named Kim Seon-saeng (Lee Ki-young), who runs a center for young Kopino and who would appear to be an ally of Marco, though the probably overly busy montage detailing what has "actually" been going on at least suggests some nefarious motivations, which are then pretty much ignored in the film's coda (actually codas, since there are at least two separate little "wrap up" moments).

The Childe Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Childe is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Well Go USA with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. There is no camera logo in the closing credits roll that I could see, and as of the writing of this review the IMDb offers precious little technical information, but this is an appealing digital capture that offers generally very secure detail levels, to the point that some of the bodily injuries depicted throughout the story may cause a bit of squirming in more squeamish types. While there is some occasionally fairly aggressive grading on tap, at times skewed toward greens and/or yellows, on the whole the palette is natural looking, and pops quite well in several outdoor sequences (the second half of the film in particular features a ton of chase sequences outside, until things finally move into the lab like setting where the mortally ill father is). A surplus of close-ups helps to support fine detail, though again considering some of the mayhem that ensues, that means getting very intimate views of various injuries at times. There is some noticeable banding during some of the production mastheads (notably the Next Entertainment World logo), but the feature itself doesn't have any major compression issues.

The Childe Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Childe features an often explosive DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track which is listed as being in Korean, though rather interestingly large swaths of this enterprise are actually in English, with various characters kind of ping ponging back and forth between the two languages. The absolutely gonzo reliance on insane gunfire gives the track some recurrently propulsive energy, and the climax, which sees a veritable horde of armed gunmen letting loose with shots offers some impressive immersion. The longish chase sequences outside also offer a number of well placed ambient environmental effects. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Two sets of optional English subtitles are available, one for translating the Korean content, and another with offers subtitles for both the Korean and English dialogue.

The Childe Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer (HD; 1:26)

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.

The Childe Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Childe has some viscerally exciting action sequences, and the shootout in the film's climax kind of needs to be seen to be believed (and maybe not even then), but the actual underpinning of the plot may not make total sense if thought about too much. Performances are generally quite enjoyable (I actually kind of loved Jeong Ra-el as the bratty little sister more than either of the marquee stars), and writer and director Park Hoon-jung keeps things moving at an extremely brisk pace, which probably helps make the close to two hour running time seem shorter. Technical merits are first rate for anyone who may be considering making a purchase.