I Saw The Devil [Akmareul boatda] (Jee-woon Kim, 2010)

[ayaa1977]

IMDb Link

Synopsis: When his pregnant fiancée becomes the latest victim of a serial killer, a secret agent blurs the line between good and evil in his pursuit of revenge.

This is the revenge film that deconstructs the revenges film. Not only it gives you the dark side of revenge, it deliberately show you how ugly it’s and how it consumes one’s soul. The acts of the serial killer Kyung-chul (played by the brilliant Min-sik Choi the lead of Oldboy) are mostly done off camera or from wide or blocked angles. Kim Soo-hyeon (also in a great turn by the director’s favorite Byung-hun Lee) who plays protagonist, and in contrast to the villain, the director decided to make his revenge acts shown in pornographic details, the camera never flinch or shy away and they are gruesome. Furthermore, the decisions he makes have a catastrophic consequences on many people, and I don’t think anyone would leave the film with a positive prospective on revenge.

As I mentioned, the acting is really good by everyone involved, and the pacing is first grade. And even though the film is 2+ hours, there are not that many dull moments, as the film has almost no exposition scenes and not even that much talking. There is some very excellent camera work and the way some scenes are shot is very refreshing (great use of snow in many scenes). The score is strikingly great, which is something I noticed in many Korean film.
Overall, this is the best revenge film I have seen since Oldboy, but is not for the faint of heart. I now would seek the director’s old films which many highly recommend.

My Rating 4.5/5

[shariqq]

Jee-woon Kim is a master film-maker. I have yet to watch this movie, but I have watched A Tale of Two Sisters , A Bittersweet Life and The Good, the Bad, the Weird , each only better than the previous.

[suresh]

A BitterSweet Life was one of the best films I ever watched

[madali]

I Saw the Devil [Akmareul boatda] (Jee-woon Kim, 2010)

Jee-woon Kim has such an impressive portfolio. A director having just a “A Bittersweet Life” among his films would have been enough for me. I won’t even praise him too much for “A Tale of Two Sisters” and “A Quiet Family” even though bought were good,  but “The Good, the Bad, the Weird” was another classic.

And now, it’s once again, a masterpiece from Kim. The director brings the actor, Byung-hun Lee, from his previous two films, and like “A Bittersweet Life”, Lee has to go on a journey of revenge. But it’s completely different. I always considered “A Bittersweet Life” the first philosophical gangster film, and with “I Saw the Devil”, Kim again plays with genre. He takes the serial killer genre and the revenge genre and mixes them up with so much darkness, that something new emerges.

Whenever I would watch a simple thriller or even a comic book story and wonder why the good guys would let the bad guys off so easily. The latter would have done so much evil, and the worst they would get was their plans ruined, and a jail sentence out of it, and maybe death. Always seemed too lenient.  The excuses that the good guy shouldn’t stoop to their level never seem to ring true to me.

But Kim brings me the case and asks me if I agree with the results. The hero has his girl killed by a serial killer (the ever excellent Min-sik Choi of “Oldboy”). The Good Guy wants revenge. So far, we are on the same track. And his revenge is so good. He beats up the Bad Guy, and when unconscious, inserts a small GPS device in his mouth, and then leaves. So, he can constantly follow him, surprise him, and hurt him again, a cat and mouse game, that the hunter has become the hunted.

And then we see why good guys aren’t supposed to do this. It’s not just because of the simple idea of the good guy becoming bad through his actions, but because you really CAN NOT play by the bad guy’s rules. We think certain acts of revenge are useful because we imagine how much we would hate it happen to us. But the psychopathic do not function as us, because if they did, they’d never do the things they do. The killer, once realizes what is going on, does not get scared or remorseful, he ENJOYS it, and the violence turns up. How can you teach someone a lesson that is devoid of empathy?

After this film, when Batman captures Joker and sends him to jail, I wouldn’t wonder why he doesn’t break each of Joker’s fingers. The abyss CAN look back at you…

4/5

[ayaa1977]

After this film, when Batman captures Joker and sends him to jail, I wouldn’t wonder why he doesn’t break each of Joker’s fingers. The abyss CAN look back at you…

Excellent review, and this line is for the ages!