3-Iron review

Why you can trust GamesRadar+ Our experts review games, movies and tech over countless hours, so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about our reviews policy.

Fore! Korean filmmaker Kim Ki-duk stays mostly out of the rough in 3-Iron, his latest assault (Violence! Burglary! Golf Balls!) on arthouse audiences who ought to remember his name after sitting through the fish-hook-munching horror of The Isle or misogynous red-light romance Bad Guy.

Anyone who thought Kim had gone soft after watching his ravishing Buddhist ode Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter... And Spring should approach this with caution: he's still got what it takes to shock (you can take the Buddhist out of the gutter, etc) as scenes featuring assault with a deadly golf club prove. Yet, despite the uncomfortable flashes of golfing violence, 3-Iron is actually a surprisingly tender love story.

Released in Korea as Bin-Jip, literally "Empty Houses", - it's a meditation on urban loneliness, with delivery boy Tae-suk sneaking into people's houses while they're out. He doesn't steal anything, just raids their fridges, does their laundry and rearranges a few of their personal possessions. It's a ghostly game he also teaches to battered wife Sun-hwa after rescuing her from a life of miserable domestic abuse.

Silence is always golden in Ki-duk's world. Both characters here are dumb - speechless, not stupid - their lives ruled by emotions they can't put into words. In contrast, everyone else in the movie, from Sun-hwa's vicious husband to various bullying coppers, talk... but they don't have anything to say. Starting out as low-key drama then morphing into a haunting fantasy that could just be a needy daydream in the mind of its damaged heroine, 3-Iron's meaning slips in and out of reach. Is it nonsensical mumbo jumbo or haunting mood poem? Golfers will know that the 3-iron is a difficult club to get to grips with: the beauty of Ki-duk's pop arthouse cinema is that it's always accessible, even when its meaning is elusive.

Lighter than some of Ki-duk's earlier films, this love story doesn't make much sense, but it's hard to forget. Frustration looks almost enchanting.

The Total Film team are made up of the finest minds in all of film journalism. They are: Editor Jane Crowther, Deputy Editor Matt Maytum, Reviews Ed Matthew Leyland, News Editor Jordan Farley, and Online Editor Emily Murray. Expect exclusive news, reviews, features, and more from the team behind the smarter movie magazine. 

Latest in Action Movies
Jason Momoa next to Lobo
Jason Momoa has gone method taking on the role of Lobo: "I asked everybody to call me by my character's name"
Avengers: Doomsday directors admit it's a "difficult" movie to make but tease some great Marvel collaborators "old and new"
Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom
The Russo Brothers say Robert Downey Jr. "tried to talk us into" doing another Avengers movie but they "said no" until they heard the pitch for Doomsday: "That story has to be told"
No Time to Die
Harry Potter and Spider-Man producers reportedly in talks to develop new James Bond movie
Amanda Seyfried in Mamma Mia!
Mean Girls star Amanda Seyfried was offered the role of Gamora in the MCU, but turned it down because she thought Guardians of the Galaxy would be "Marvel's first bomb"
Robert Downey Jr. during the Doctor Doom announcement at Marvel's SDCC 2024 panel
Kevin Feige was behind the decision to bring Robert Downey Jr. in as Doctor Doom, and the conversation was had "a while ago"
Latest in Reviews
Photographs of the Agricola board game in play
Agricola review: "Accurate representation of the highly competitive and often unstable world of agriculture"
Photos taken by writer Rosalie Newcombe of the Shure MV7i microphone, within a pink and white themed room.
Shure MV7i review - convenience and excellence rolled into one superb sounding package
Key art for Atomfall showing a character in the English countryside looking at a nuclear plant some distance away
Atomfall review: "This isn't British Fallout – it's something much better than that"
Razer BlackWidow V4 Pro 75% gaming keyboard with purple RGB lighting on a desk setup
Razer BlackWidow V4 Pro 75% review: "a niche luxury"
A woman chasing a shining butterfly with a leaping cat on her shoulder in InZOI
inZOI review: "Currently feels like a soulless imitation of the worst parts of The Sims"
White Razer Basilisk V3 Pro 35K gaming mouse standing up against a green-lit setup
Razer Basilisk V3 Pro 35K review: "hampered by its predecessor"