* Flick... hisss...... puff..... Now we are ready for the review. Reviewed by Cigarette Smoking Man A
Korean cinema has come far than just sappy love dramas. Throughout my observation, Korea first came to attention with dramas like Winter Sonata that gain immediate international recognition with popular korean actors and cute-as-buttons korean actresses. On the other spectrum, Korea had also release thrillers such as Old boy, Chaser and Memories of Murder, all of which is high quality, extremely well-made movies that also established korean cinema as a powerhouse to be reckon with in the industry. To compare, I preferred Korean movies to Japanese ones, mainly because the pacing is much faster.
Then they came out with I saw the devil. Old boy, Sympathy for lady vengeance and Sympathy for Mr. vengeance is a trilogy of quality revenge movies by director Chan-wook Park and I thoroughly enjoyed all three for its art style and direction, not to mention rock-solid, gripping storyline. That being said, I saw the Devil runs in the same veins as a revenge flick but even better than the revenge trilogy. That's right. Director Kim Ji-Woon had succeeded in surpassing korea's best and most gripping revenge flick ever.
The premise of the movie is very simple. Fuck the complicated storyline with twist and turns. This movie is very, very straightforward and that's what makes it so damn enjoyable. A serial killer happens to kill a top secret agents fiancee and its up to the agent to avenge her. Simple as that. But the meat of the movie is the entire process on how the agent chased the killer and his method on inflicting pain to the killer. Expect superb acting by veterans Lee Byung-Hun and Choi Min Sik, both who are exceptional in their own movies and even better when they are working together. There's this one scene in the movie (I won't reveal much) that involves the inside of a cab and 3 murderers. That scene, you will have to see to believe, awesome camera work and action choreography. The movie is violent and gory, but not something that we gore-fans can't handle. Each gore scenes and violent altercations are there because it needs to be there, not to be there to satisfy gore fans. It's 2 hours long but because its so damn good, you won't feel it. Foreign release of the movie will have theaterical cuts, get the uncut blu-ray version. You will thank me.
For me to review any further would be me spoiling the movie for you. What I can suggest is watch the movie (like fuckin' NOW), cos' if you don't, you will be missing out on one of Korea's best thrillers. Download here
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