Let me start this off by stating flat out I am a raving fan of Lee Byung-Hun. I've loved him in every role he's played. This movie is no exception.
The opening scene of this movie more or less demonstrates the tone of the rest of movie: bleak.
It begins in a snowstorm and one of the more disturbing murders I've seen put to film (and I've seen quite a number). But what makes this killing, and indeed, most of the killings in this movie is the cold indifference in which they are shot. I felt like a casual observer to them, which made it all the more disturbing. The villian in this movie is portrayed without an ounce of sympathy. He goes about his grisly work with all the casualness of preparing a sandwich.
Let it be known this movie is NOT for the squeamish. It does not flinch in it's portrayal of savage beatings and stabbings. Neither however, does it glorify it's violence. As I said, it is shot with cold indifference. Lee puts in an excellent performance as the fiancee of the first victim we see. He swears revenge 10,000 times over and, for a time, seems like he's going to deliver on his promise.
However, he gets perhaps over confident and this cause a series of events that leads to an ending that, while you'd expect to feel some sense of triumph from it, you are robbed of any feelings of pleasure from it, they are remorselessly snatched from you and taken far away.
All in all a very effective movie, gripping and intense with few instances in which I was bored.
I'd recommend you go find it somewhere and watch it immediately.
Film I Saw The Devil and he terrified me. Possible spoilers.
Let me start this off by stating flat out I am a raving fan of Lee Byung-Hun. I've loved him in every role he's played. This movie is no exception.
The opening scene of this movie more or less demonstrates the tone of the rest of movie: bleak.
It begins in a snowstorm and one of the more disturbing murders I've seen put to film (and I've seen quite a number). But what makes this killing, and indeed, most of the killings in this movie is the cold indifference in which they are shot. I felt like a casual observer to them, which made it all the more disturbing. The villian in this movie is portrayed without an ounce of sympathy. He goes about his grisly work with all the casualness of preparing a sandwich.
Let it be known this movie is NOT for the squeamish. It does not flinch in it's portrayal of savage beatings and stabbings. Neither however, does it glorify it's violence. As I said, it is shot with cold indifference. Lee puts in an excellent performance as the fiancee of the first victim we see. He swears revenge 10,000 times over and, for a time, seems like he's going to deliver on his promise.
However, he gets perhaps over confident and this cause a series of events that leads to an ending that, while you'd expect to feel some sense of triumph from it, you are robbed of any feelings of pleasure from it, they are remorselessly snatched from you and taken far away.
All in all a very effective movie, gripping and intense with few instances in which I was bored.
I'd recommend you go find it somewhere and watch it immediately.