Director: Ji-woon Kim (The Good, the Bad, the Weird, A Tale of Two Sisters)
Starring: Lee Byung-hun, Choi Min-sik
Language: Korean
On Blu-Ray + DVD: May 10, 2011
I wish that I Saw The Devil was a 30-45 minute short film. If it was, it would be flawless. However, it isn't, and it is a much lesser film because of this. Despite the film's good acting, decent story, and beautiful camera work, I Saw The Devil is too long and its story arc too silly for its own good.
I Saw The Devil opens with a murder. The film's antagonist, Kyung-chul (Choi), finds a woman in a broken down car on the side of the road. After feigning like he will assist her, he breaks into the car, bludgeons her senseless, takes her to his house, and disassembles her body. It is very gruesome, but it's a great setup for the film that follows. Devil is gruesome from beginning to end. There are rapes, cannibals, and even Saw-like booby traps. If you can't handle gore or extreme violence, you'd be best served to just stay away from Devil (and basically all Korean revenge flicks, for that matter). For me, though, the violence was earned, especially when the protagonist, Soo-hyun (Lee) gets in on the violence. You see, that woman from the first scene was Soo-hyun's fiancee, and after figuring out that Kyung-chul is the killer, he decides to exact some revenge. The gratuity of the violence makes you question whether you're actually cheering for Soo-hyun to succeed or if you're cheering for violence.
My problem with the story isn't that it is too violent. My problem is that this movie should've ended after, at the very most, an hour in. Right around that point in the film, Soo-hyun catches up to Kyung-chul and has the chance to exact his revenge. Instead, he lets him get away so that he can "track" him. This mistake by Soo-hyun causes a lot more people to die and doesn't really make much logical sense. I get the point of wanting him to suffer gruesomely for killing Soo-hyun's fiancee, but he could have just tied him to a chair or something similar and tortured him until he was tired. He actually lets Kyung-chul go multiple times, and it eventually got to the point where I was annoyed at what was happening on screen. A movie should almost never do this to me, especially when the annoyance isn't earned through character development or emotional attachment.
Then again, even after having said all of these negative things about Devil's plot, I still enjoyed the film. After that first hour, this primarily has to do with how wonderfully the film is shot and acted. Between all the gore and violence, the film is full of picturesque imagery. Some personal favorites include the exterior shots from the opening scene, the scenes in the greenhouse when the two main characters first meet, and the scene in the taxi cab. Devil is also anchored by two good performances from the leads. Lee's Soo-hyun really feels like a man who has lost his way in life. Choi's Kyung-chul is the true star, though. He is a sadistic, devilish, unfeeling person driven by the simple urge to hunt, and his apathetic tone is portrayed superbly by Choi.
This is probably my shortest review so far. This might be because I've been writing an average of one movie review per day, but I don't think so. I think it is because of how much I zoned out during I Saw The Devil's unnecessary second half. As I previously stated, my annoyance didn't completely ruin the film, but it definitely turned what could have been one of my favorite films of the year into a mediocre movie that happens to include some great pieces. If you like revenge movies, I Saw The Devil is worth a look, but otherwise, I'd be cautious.
I wish that I Saw The Devil was a 30-45 minute short film. If it was, it would be flawless. However, it isn't, and it is a much lesser film because of this. Despite the film's good acting, decent story, and beautiful camera work, I Saw The Devil is too long and its story arc too silly for its own good.
I Saw The Devil opens with a murder. The film's antagonist, Kyung-chul (Choi), finds a woman in a broken down car on the side of the road. After feigning like he will assist her, he breaks into the car, bludgeons her senseless, takes her to his house, and disassembles her body. It is very gruesome, but it's a great setup for the film that follows. Devil is gruesome from beginning to end. There are rapes, cannibals, and even Saw-like booby traps. If you can't handle gore or extreme violence, you'd be best served to just stay away from Devil (and basically all Korean revenge flicks, for that matter). For me, though, the violence was earned, especially when the protagonist, Soo-hyun (Lee) gets in on the violence. You see, that woman from the first scene was Soo-hyun's fiancee, and after figuring out that Kyung-chul is the killer, he decides to exact some revenge. The gratuity of the violence makes you question whether you're actually cheering for Soo-hyun to succeed or if you're cheering for violence.
My problem with the story isn't that it is too violent. My problem is that this movie should've ended after, at the very most, an hour in. Right around that point in the film, Soo-hyun catches up to Kyung-chul and has the chance to exact his revenge. Instead, he lets him get away so that he can "track" him. This mistake by Soo-hyun causes a lot more people to die and doesn't really make much logical sense. I get the point of wanting him to suffer gruesomely for killing Soo-hyun's fiancee, but he could have just tied him to a chair or something similar and tortured him until he was tired. He actually lets Kyung-chul go multiple times, and it eventually got to the point where I was annoyed at what was happening on screen. A movie should almost never do this to me, especially when the annoyance isn't earned through character development or emotional attachment.
This is probably my shortest review so far. This might be because I've been writing an average of one movie review per day, but I don't think so. I think it is because of how much I zoned out during I Saw The Devil's unnecessary second half. As I previously stated, my annoyance didn't completely ruin the film, but it definitely turned what could have been one of my favorite films of the year into a mediocre movie that happens to include some great pieces. If you like revenge movies, I Saw The Devil is worth a look, but otherwise, I'd be cautious.
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