Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance
Revenge was never this sweet.
A deaf man and his girlfriend resort to desperate measures in order to fund a kidney transplant for his sister. Things go horribly wrong, and the situation spirals rapidly into a cycle of violence and revenge.
Song Kang-ho
Dong-jin
Shin Ha-kyun
Ryu
Bae Doona
Yeong-mi
Im Ji-eun
Sister
Han Bo-bae
Yu-Sun
Avis de la communauté (11)
[spoiler]I'd say that the biggest problem with this movie is its 1st act. It's too slow and it's also confusing in some parts. It tends to jump some important parts for no reason; like the kidnapping scene. That confused the f*ck out of me. This also happened later in the movie, when "Mr. Vengeance" appeared in Ryu's hideout, when the hideout itself had never been established nor did he look for it. He was just there, waiting.[/spoiler]
Often called a cruel film, I think its misfortune is mistaken for heartlessness. But the film holds sympathy for each protagonist in its tragedy and gives each of them ample screentime to explain how we got here, and that makes the wave of violence that envelops the final third well earned. It didn't- shouldn't- have to be this way. One scene in particular solidified this for me; the detective needing ten million won, in the same scene where Dong-jin mentions the economy crashing. Societal ills created this situation and thrust it forward, and the fact that these three would've been good people otherwise is the heart of the tragedy. "I know you're a good guy... so you know why I have to kill you..." The film views them all as human, all have the capability of being good at their heart. But inversely, human nature compels them forward to continue the cycle.I think the film is also buoyed by knowing when to show the brutality and when to pull back, knowing which will make the viewers wince to see and which will be even more brutal for them to imagine. Add in a killer cast, especially Song Kang-ho and Bae Doona, and it's a film you shouldn't miss.
(second viewing) 2 / 2 directing & technical aspect 1 / 1 story 1 / 1 act I 1 / 1 act II 1 / 1 act III 1 / 1 acting .5 / 1 writing .5 / 1 originality 1 / 1 lasting ability to make you think -.5 / 1 misc (Shin over-acts even in this role) 8.5 / 10 Park is fucking amazing. First entry of the vengeance trilogy is a rock solid one.
[spoiler] A movie where you can't take anyone's side! Just when you think nothing worse can happen it happens! Flawless cinematography, every character development was just perfect.[/spoiler]