‘You can’t become monster to fight against monster.’
Unspeakable devil meets unimaginable bloody vengeance. The lines between good and bad are blurred where dealing with the revenge to one monster another man becomes another monster. Korean cinema’s preoccupation and extreme obsession with vengeance and violence themes are scaling new heights in depiction of unmatchable gore and violence. Here is another brilliant thriller and violently shocking film to watch from happening Korean cinema. It begins with a shocking opening- a solitary road at night – light snow fall- a young girl driving a car- flat tyre- a stranger came to help just as she is calling her lover- a moment of suspicion and the horror of I saw the Devil. Remember the kidnap victim of Dae-su of ‘Oldboy’! Min-sik Choi is back again and this time as the heinous & pervert serial killer that even put the devil to shame. Gyeongchul Jang is undoubtedly the most horrible psychopathic serial killers I have ever seen on screen. He’s unimaginable pervert who enjoys killing pretty young girls anywhere.
And we think it’s only Takashi Miike who’re unchallenged in their signature sadistic torture- gore, gross bloodshed and extreme graphic violence showing chopping and ripping the body parts. Director Kim Jee Woon brought the shocking vengeance thriller which begins with shocking murder of a pregnant young girl and within an hour her vendetta stricken fiancé encountered the killer face to face but he didn't kill him as he promised to her beloved to give 1000 per cent more pain to the person who killed her. Now this turned him into an obsessed revenge maniac.
Movie is pulled through repeated cycle of hunting game where chase and torture, catch and release continues until the balance is shifted when the killer came to know about the bugging capsule inserted into his body to track him and then it’s two monsters unleashed to its penultimate climax. The film is two and half hours long but there’s not a moment where excitement and thrill loses its intensity. Two thumbs up for Min-sik Choi’s act, brilliant cinematography and crisp editing and direction. Watching his ‘A Bittersweet Life’ and now ‘I saw the Devil’, I must say that Kim Jee Woon is another Korean director to watch in the line of Park Chan Wook.
Watch it if you can bear over the top violence.
Ratings- 8/10
2 comments:
Yes, truly loved this one.
The variety that Kim Ji-woothe n provides is brilliant. Catch The Good, The Bad, The Weird as well - a Korean western.
ya, he is really a versatile filmmaker. Will surely catch The Good, The Bad, The Weird, have seen the trailer...seems interesting stuff.
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