Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002)

A different way of telling a story

Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Director Chan-wook Park presents his talent in visual story-telling in this twisted Crime-Drama of a fired factory worker, who kidnaps his former boss's daughter. Collaborating with his favorite actor of choice Kanf-ho Song, the director is able to improve "Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance" progression with on-going running time before all the accumulated energy suddenly breaks out at around 85 Minutes into the movie. Some skillful scenes of murder action emerges without shying away of showing the violence within the human condition, yet avoiding the trap of glorifying the torturing acts, where Director Chan-wook Park shows taste and respect for the audiovisual art form of motion pictures, which already peaked with his international breakthrough picture "Oldboy" (2003) the year after.© 2017 Felix Alexander Dausend (Cinemajesty Entertainments LLC)

I'm afraid that very few of my hip and flowery fellow reviewers would fall in line and agree with my assessment of 'Sympathy For Mr Vengeance', but I just don't feel right about this film...Yeah, Park is so courageous to bring such brutal frankness in such beautiful and inspirational film work, with such talented directorial technique, that he just must be a genius.But this is my review and assessment, and if my art-house loving colleagues don't agree, then I certainly support their right to disagree with me along with their right to view this kind of work the way they want.This is a film about average-Joe working-class Korean citizens running around carving each other up and spilling enough blood to make 'Goodfellas' look like a nursery rhyme. Even a supposedly legitimate government employee (I won't name the character) decided it was just a grand idea that a father grieving over the loss of his child should watch while the child was carved open and the internal organs removed.It would still be awful, but perhaps more expected if this type of horrific slaughter was committed by the Geondal, Jopok or any number of other notorious South Korean Mafioso; but if Park is expecting us to believe that these characters truly represent what the average Korean citizen is like under pressure or when faced with tragedy, then what if anything distinguishes South Korea from the culture we are told represents North Korea? I'm assuming that this director feels that life in SK isn't so different than what he is showing to the world, that these events couldn't possibly happen there... and among the common working people at that! Even though this is film, art or whatever other rosy name you want to refer to it as, I think it is meant to reflect a slice of life that is possible in any major SK city... and it begs the question; why are we still involving ourselves, at great cost in lives and dollars, in the politics and strife of cultures we don't truly understand?

This movie is best thought of as a Korean version of Fargo. It has, essentially, the same premise and outcome, but is MUCH more uncomfortable and gratuitous. Those familiar with the director will find his signature scenes that have been immaculately framed, and some spot on casting choices. It's best to watch this movie if you're not the squeamish type, as there is a lot of graphic (and implied) violence as well as one particular sex scene. The characters' motives are established very clearly, which helps to show that no one is actually a "bad person," and the lack of a proper soundtrack is a good choice, with it symbolising the main character's deafness. Yeah, if you're a fan of thrillers, violence and Korea, this movie is a good one.

For anyone reading this review and considering watching this movie, please immediately switch your attention to, "Sympathy for Lady Vengeance", which is twice the movie Mr. Vengeance is. My reasoning? I am not a native Korean and I found it difficult to follow the time-line and individual characters watching with English subtitles. The same issue arose with Lady Vengeance but the simple ploy of Lady Vengeance wearing distinctive red eye-shadow meant she was always easily identifiable. I do not wish to sound in any way racist but when every Korean person in these movies is virtually identical - ladies with homogeneous height, body shape, hair colour and make-up, men with the same dark side-shade and suits (although one character in Mr. Vengeance has green hair) - it is very difficult for non-Asians to follow just exactly who everybody is and their importance to the plot when using English subtitles.Both Mr. and Lady are dark movies which depict the less-well-off areas and people of South Korea. Both movies show grim realities that are a reflection of SK culture and religious beliefs - to me it is a cross between old-school American evangelicalism and old-school Japanese cultural rigidity (apologies to Koreans for liking them to Japanese and vice-versa). There are scenes in both movies but particularly Mr. Vengeance that I cannot envisage being shown in western movie theatres (two "niche" sex-scenes and very believable torture). Overall I found Lady Vengeance more coherent, less depraved and Lady Vengeance infused me with sympathies that quite honestly did not manifest in Mr. Vengeance - so Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance is a complete failure in that my true sympathies lay with the characters upon whom vengeance was visited, not the "righteously indignant" party. Mr. Vengeance - 6/10 Lady Vengeance - 8.5/10