Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance

Starring: Kang-ho Song, Ha-kyun Shin, Doona Bae, Ji-Eun Lim, Bo-bae Han
Directed by: Chan-wook Park
Rating: R
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
2002

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A man kidnaps a girl to obtain ransom money for his sick sister, but things quickly spiral out of control.

Review:

Tim: I was first exposed to Chan-wook Park's so-called "Vengeance Trilogy" with the middle film, Oldboy. That film was terrific, mind-blowing, graphic, and unforgettable. For that reason, I was really looking forward to this, the first film of the "trilogy". Unfortunately, I just did not like it very much at all. I can see similar themes, but the execution on this film was lacking.

I felt like the story was unoriginal. A guy botches a kidnapping to pay for a sick relative's medical procedure. How many times have we see that before? Of course, Park has his own twists and tweaks to the story, but none of them differentiated this film enough. This movie just felt too redundant for me.

I never really cared about any of the characters. Having your main protagonist be a deaf mute is certainly original, but in the context of this film, it didn't allow the audience to really identify with him. He gave an okay performance, but I never connected with his character. This was pretty much true of everyone in the cast- I was mildly interested in their characters and story, but ultimately, I didn't care much.

It feels like the film takes a really, really long time to get going. The first hour set up the story, but it just kind of plodded along. I felt my interest waning during many of those scenes. The movie just didn't hold my attention very well at all. There were too many scenes that felt far too slow. I didn't get a great sense of momentum during much of the film.

Now, the movie eventually does get going, and there are some pretty graphic, violent scenes, like we would expect. Park is pretty terrific at creating realistic, gritty violence with a good deal of blood. There's a few incredible scenes, but these felt a bit disconnected from the rest of the film. We would get a great scene, but Park would lose momentum, as we'd get several scenes that were like watching a lullaby put us to sleep.

Maybe I spoiled myself by watching Oldboy first, but I feel like Park's second effort here was far superior to the first one. I really thought I was going to like this film, but it disappointed me greatly. Park is still an exceptional director, and he does give us several very effective scenes. As a whole, though, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance just did not meet my expectations.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Oldboy, Sympathy for Lady Vengeance