Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance

It's still the Park Chan-wook film that I struggle the most in terms of pace and structure. I admire the craft, love the acting - the main trio is simply perfect and some of the best in the world -, and really like the directions where this story goes. I love how it's so bleak and hopeless. Sometimes Chan-wook gives us unexpected shots or beautiful transitions coming totally from nowhere, which is great. I just wanted a more engaging first act and a more dynamic way to tell this story (a bit too raw for my taste).

"Sympathy for Mr Vengeance", the latest gore-fest from Korea, comes laden with praise from all the usual suspects, and is being released nationwide as part of the Asia Extreme series. All of which is fine, apart from one small detail: it's crap. It's also incoherent, grotesque, gloatingly sadistic, pointless and dull. The film tells the story of a deaf-mute whose sister (I think) needs a kidney transplant. Cue loads of enforced organ removal, child kidnap, stabbing, and tedious longeurs. Great. If this were an American film it would be derided for its naff plot, inane violence and bland characters, but because this is - hey! - Asia Extreme, it can apparently be forgiven for being wretched and annoying.

Very violent, gory film - the blood is offset by some nice camera work - angles, framing, set pieces and the filming narrative. Knives are certainly more colourful than the US standby, firearms. Also, there is a very good sense of foreboding and tension building up in what was supposed to be a clean, simple kidnapping. Not everything is laid out step by step, you have to fill in the blanks as the movie progresses. The story seems to be a condemnation of Korean health-care (available, but at a price), police corruption ("what's your net worth?") and some left-wing/capitalist commentary ("It's just flow of capital, not stealing..")thrown in the mix. Altogether a rather disturbing film, not really entertainment per se, but still a very good example of film-making art.

Asians excel at horror because, not having to pander to Hollywood's rules, they can take you anywhere at all. For all this filmed was billed as a gory horror, violence was minimal, and certainly not gratuitous, but ewwwww......it was GOOD when it happened! The film revolves around the lives of a deaf-mute and his sister who requires a kidney transplant. A kidnap attempt to raise money goes tragically wrong, and much blood-letting ensues. The ending makes me wince to this day.... I also think that this film delivers an important message. To exact vengeance on someone because you are hurting only makes more people hurt, and it doesn't stop yours.

I have to say, I got this film after seeing "Oldboy" because I heard it was even better, and I was a little disappointed. I can appreciate the fine acting and cinematography, the twisting, turning plot, and the nihilistic approach to the whole project, but in the end, I think this film was unsatisfying. But that's not to say it was bad. "Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance" is definitely worth seeing. It's got some awesome violence and a lot of crazy twists. It'll keep you on your toes. It must be viewed in its entirety to be appreciated. The characters are sleazy and nasty, and hard to identify with, but they keep you interested. I'd recommend this only as essential viewing for the extreme Asian movie fan, like myself, but only if you've seen "Oldboy" first. 6 out of 10, kids.

Are we all watching the same movie? What kind of drugs do you have to be on to enjoy this movie? Sharesies? I saw oldboy (2003) and was expecting for this apparent revenge trilogy to have a certain level of quality as there's some great cinematography and all. This is just incredibly slow paced where I ask myself what am I watching and why should I care. Seriously how does this have any higher than a 5 star other than potential nostalgia. I've enjoyed certain Lloyd Kaufman movies more than this. Hardly ANYTHING happens the hour I struggled to watch this. I don't need to see fist fights, car chases or helicopters or anything but there's no character you can really pretend to be to become involved in the movie, there's little to no music. Other than this one dying and that one being very sick and making a man kidnap someone for about 45 minutes I might as well watch a windows 98 screen saver.