Kill Boksoon is a delight for action fans on Netflix, but the movie's ending might require some explaining, as well as its mid-credit scene.
Set in a John Wick-esque world where killing agencies are utilised whenever somebody needs to get rid of a problem, Kill Boksoon sees leading assassin Gil Boksoon head on one final job which – if you've seen any action movie – doesn't quite go to plan.
She is then forced to fight for her life to both survive and to protect the life of her daughter, which isn't exactly straightforward when her killing agency MK Ent sets its targets on stopping her at all costs.
What to Read Next
A twisty tale, Kill Boksoon is filled with surprises and turns and if you got a bit lost among all the bullets being fired and blood being spilled, we're here to help with who double-crossed who and why.
When you're done with it, don't forget to check the best action movies on Netflix in case you are still hungry for more action-packed stories.
Now, let's delve into Kill Boksoon's ending. Major spoilers are ahead.
Kill Boksoon ending explained
In the world of Kill Boksoon, there are three rules that every killer agency must follow: "You must not kill minors; you will only take on shows [assassinations] sanctioned by your company; you must always attempt shows sanctioned by your company."
Boksoon is one of only two grade-A-ranked assassins at MK Ent, alongside Cha Min-kyu – MK's chairman – who she's known ever since he staged the suicide of her father. In fact, Boksoon was even the one to kick the chair out from under her father's feet.
For her final assignment, Boksoon takes on a grade-A assassination to stage the suicide of a student who, crucially, isn't a minor. However, when she's on the 'show' with MK "intern" Kim Young-ji, Boksoon realises the target is the son of Senator Oh Jeong-sik.
The senator is the new candidate for prime minister and he's facing a scandal after being accused of getting his son fraudulently admitted to college. To spare his blushes, he paid MK to kill his son. But given her own fraught relationship with her daughter, Boksoon chooses not to go through with it.
It means that Boksoon has broken the rules (rule three, to be precise), but she tells Chairman Cha that if he accepts that she just failed and confirms the senator's son won't be killed by somebody else, she'll accept a new contract.
Chairman Cha's sister Cha Min-hee – MK's director – isn't happy about this and Boksoon's influence on her older brother. She blackmails MK assassin Han Hee-sung (who had been carrying out unsanctioned 'shows') into carrying out the assassination of the senator's son, in return for a promotion to grade A.
Aware of the threat Boksoon poses, Director Cha tells Hee-sung to kill Boksoon and, since they're at the local hangout for assassins, she offers any other killer the chance to work at MK if they kill Boksoon instead.
Boksoon, with the help of Young-ji, manages to kill all of the fellow assassins, including Hee-sung. Unfortunately for Boksoon, it means that the other companies will be coming after her when they learn she killed their assassins.
Chairman Cha has a plan though to frame Hee-sung for it all, and he kills Young-ji to remove any witnesses. He also makes it clear to all the other companies that since MK is the leading agency, he can basically set any rules and kills another company's chairman to prove he's untouchable.
He didn't count on Boksoon discovering that he killed Young-ji, thanks to Director Cha's gloating. Boksoon kills Director Cha and sends a "bloody knife" (well, technically, a bloody pen) message to Chairman Cha which, in the world of the movie, is essentially its version of throwing down the gauntlet.
Boksoon and Chairman Cha have a showdown in his office where Boksoon realises that no matter the scenario she plays out, she ends up dead. (It's basically her superpower to guess her opponent's moves, which is why she's been so good as an assassin.)
Instead of confronting Chairman Cha directly, she distracts him by taunting him, saying she knows his weakness is her. He's distracted enough that Boksoon is able to land a fatal blow, but Chairman Cha has the final laugh as he tells her that her daughter has watched the whole thing as she was sent an iPad with a livestream of the office.
Boksoon's daughter Jae-young – who might also be Chairman Cha's daughter, as the movie hints at it, without ever confirming it – had no idea of her mother's profession. When Boksoon returns home, Jae-young seems pretty chill about everything, so we're left to wonder if she actually watched the livestream.
The movie does show Jae-young watching the livestream, but since we also see Boksoon's visions of failed moves, it could be Boksoon imagining her daughter watching it. Or Jae-young just realises that maybe she shouldn't mess with her mother, the cold-blooded ruthless killer.
Star Jeon Do-yeon, who plays Boksoon, has her own theories about what the final scene between mother and daughter means.
"Instead of revealing the secrets, for Boksoon and Jae-yeong I think they've kind of 'shared' their thoughts on those secrets, and that's how they got to grow together as people. I think it's a very open end for the movie," she told Cinema Daily US.
"I personally don't think that you have to expose of all your secrets in order to have a good relationship. Sometimes I think secrets are needed to have a healthier relationship. I have a daughter myself, and looking at my mother-daughter relationship, I think there is a place where people do need secrets."
Either way, the mid-credit scene sees Jae-young looking pretty relaxed, having returned to the school where she was expelled to say goodbye to the girl she was seeing.
We also hear that the newly elected prime minister was found dead in his car, a suspected suicide as a result of the trauma of his son's death. It could well have been Boksoon's doing or just MK clearing up loose ends.
Kill Boksoon is available to watch now on Netflix.
Movies Editor, Digital Spy Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor. Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world. After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.
