Ang-ma-reul bo-at-da (2010)'s comments

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Ralf

I still find some of the plot devices in this film excruciatingly half-assed, but it really gets better with repeat viewings - plus, it's just exceptionally well-made. The cinematography is some of the best I've seen in any film, and its relentless brutality and awesome pacing just drew me in... again. Insane film.

10 years 9 months ago

Jordan95

Undeniably one of the most brutal and devastating films about revenge ever made, I Saw the Devil provides an intense and discomforting experience like few other films. However, I found it somewhat overrated; it's nowhere near Kim Jee-woon's worst film, that would be the still entertaining The Last Stand, but considering the consistent high praise it's been getting, I couldn't help but be slightly dissapointed by it.

Lee Byung-hun and Choi Min-sik give extremely committed performances, with Min-sik portraying one of the most disgusting and terrifying serial killers I've ever seen in a movie. It's a testament to Min-sik's acting that he takes this somewhat one-note character and makes him utterly monstrous. Every time you think he cannot surpass himself in depravity, he actually does. Byung-hun, in his third consecutive film with Jee-woon, makes palpable the despair and moral descent of his character.

Director Kim Jee-woon certainly pushes the boundaries of on-screen violence in a mainstream movie and although there are numerous shocking scenes of unspeakable brutality, there's a point around the halfway mark where the violence becomes so over-the-top that it loses quite a bit of credibility during some crucial sequences. spoiler

Despite my misgivings, I Saw the Devil is an shocking and extreme revenge film with a downright brutal and heartbreaking ending that proves once again what other South Korean films about the subject have already proven: revenge is worthless.

8 years 10 months ago

sabke

Absolute optimum in taking revenge! Very gory, so prepare!

"I saw the devil" reminded me in some way of "El secreto de sus ojos", but "El secreto de sus ojos" is more psychologically underlayed.

Min-sik Choi played his role very convincing, just like his perfect performance in "Old Boy". Actually, what I expected from the movie "Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance" I got delivered by "I saw the devil".

12 years 2 months ago

ChrisReynolds

Well made, exciting and OTT gory, but let down by the way the more disturbing and emotional content doesn't seem to mix well with the silliness of a lot of the violence. The killer reminded me of Wile E Coyote the way he would absorb a massive amount of damage but then be pretty much OK and carry on trying to kill people.

12 years 4 months ago

Siskoid

Korean serial killer-themed thriller I Saw the Devil, which fits the horror genre because of how gory the violence is (think Ichi the Killer), but is essentially a supercop revenge story in which the good guy adopts the villain's methods, terror and torture, to achieve his goals. If the film is trying to say there's evil accessible in everyone, the opposite isn't exactly true. Like many villains in Asian films, the serial killer is absolutely irredeemable and disgusting. There's no empathizing with that guy when the cop goes crazy, which I think is a weakness. Another weakness is that I Saw the Devil is at least 20 minutes too long. Lots of twists of fate, but it feels like we hit the climax and then have to suffer through another act. The cinematography is quite luscious and the action scenes well-choreographed, but be warned the horror is predicated on violence done to women. It's a horror trope I'm getting a little tired of, even when the intent is to make you squirm.

8 years 10 months ago

cubesofspinach

...I liked the taxi massacre.

11 years 10 months ago

dombrewer

Crashingly disappointing and infuriatingly bad - not only because Kim Jee-Woon made the excellent "Tale of Two Sisters" and "A Bittersweet Life" but also because so many viewers seem to love it; I can only think that many latched on to this hoping for "Oldboy" style thrills with a heavy dose of torture porn and didn't notice there was none of the moral framework or canny psychology of Park Chan-Wook's superb trilogy. For me this failed on almost every level - of course it's stylishly and expensively shot, and Choi Min-Sik does predictably good work with a very predictable serial killer role, but Lee Byung-Hun is weak as the blank supercop evidently as deranged as his quarry. He's not helped by a poorly written script and credulity stretching plot; the poorly conceived "revenge" he enacts on his fiancee's killer results in more death, rape and chaos through his selfish, idiotic quest and ultimately achieves nothing. Park Chan-Wook managed to reach that conclusion in far less time and with considerably less misogyny and cliche in "Lady Vengeance". At the two hour mark I was bored and hoping that Choi would actually get away and Lee would pay for his stupidity. No such luck.

12 years 1 month ago

Prof. Lumpcicle

Funny, I enacted the same form of revenge on a school yard bully who stole my milk money.

12 years 3 months ago

Matt Addis

This is not really "horror", more like an incredibly violent thriller. It's still excellent, though perhaps a bit too long. excellent take on the whole adage "to beat the devil you must become the devil"

2 years 6 months ago

Eva1986

Disturbing! Love Min-Sik Choi.

8 years 10 months ago

rhitwick

Good movie but too lengthy. Should have been 20 minutes less.

12 years 8 months ago

armyofshadows

Very violent, overlong, and rather unfocused, but still thrilling, beautifully filmed and succesful in the conveyance of emotion. A powerful film dotted with moments of intense, believable sadness and great performances. A bit confused in terms of genre- it often feels like a horror movie (an effective one) but it also has a lot of thriller elements. Overall, an experience that studies the depths of human evil and the different forms it can take with masterful elements of suspense and drama despite some extremely brutal violence and a flawed script with a length that feels unnecessary.

12 years 10 months ago

Rashed

Very Brutal !!

4 years 5 months ago

Toljus

Brutal.

5 years 6 months ago

senorroboto

This movie has some strong things going for it: It's got some amazing camerawork and cinematography as a whole, really good acting from Choi Min-Sik, its well-choreographed action. But it also feels like a lot of time to spend retreading familiar serial-killer/revenge ground. This movie really wants to shove your face in all the nastiness, and that's ok, but maybe it could do it a little more efficiently.

9 years 4 months ago