I SAW THE DEVIL

This is the new film by Kim Jee-Won, the regularly recognized (at least internationally) third best Korean director working today in that country.  “I Saw The Devil” is a return to form from the director, whose previous film, the Korean Western “The Good, The Bad, The Weird”, was a bloated mess. 

The new film is a dark revenge tale, and stars Choi Min-Sik and Lee Byung-Hun (which is the first pairing of these powerhouse actors).  Min-sik plays a serial killer who brutally murders Byung-hun’s fiancé, who also happens to be pregnant with their first child.  Devastated by his fiancé’s death, he swears to her at her funeral, that not only will he find her killer, but cause him 10,000 more times the pain that was inflicted on her.  Byung-hun is a secret agent of some sort and his father-in-law is a retired police chief.  With these contacts, he is able to obtain the information on the four main suspects on similar cases.  He immediately sets out to find out which one of these is the real killer, often very violently.  A man possessed, he only has one thing on his mind, and when he finally works out that Choi-sik is the man he is looking for, well let’s just say that it doesn’t bode well for him.  While attempting another rape and murder, the two adversaries finally meet, where Choi-sik is the victim of a brutal beating by the secret agent.  Lying unconscious, Byung-hun doesn’t kill the serial killer, instead he places a tracker on him (which is equipped with a microphone on it) places him in a car and lets him awaken.  Only to track him down again and violently beat him up again.  The agent has become a hunter adept in the “catch and release” method, to cause more pain on his prey.  The film starts to become a little repetitive here and walks the line of losing its audience (as it is a lot of continual violence), but it picks up again, when Choi-sik realizes which one of his victims the agent is related to, while at the same time finding and disposing of the tracker.  Suddenly the tables are turned again, and the tension is almost unbearable, because the rest of the agent’s family are in serious trouble – this is a demented serial killer that he has been needling, and he is bound to strike back with the same amount of venom. 

The best thing about Kim Jee-Won’s films is that they are always gorgeous to look at, with the cinematography and production design always being top notch.  “I Saw The Devil” is no exception and there is an amazing scene in a house where the killer is holed up with two friends (who also happen to be demented psychos), and the secret agent enters the house searching for him.  Amongst all the violence in the scene, the house is just gorgeous to look at, reminiscent of the director’s earlier film “A Tale Of Two Sisters”. 

Unfortunately the biggest problem with the film is its extended running time.  At two and a half hours, it is just too long, and could have easily lost twenty minutes off it, to make a stronger end product.  Ironically, the scene just mentioned, as good as it is, probably should have been removed, because the opening up of the picture and introduction of new characters at that point in the film (and one’s that don’t play a huge part in the film), only slows down the plot somewhat. 

As much as I liked this film, I also feel that Kim Jee-Won really didn’t have much to say on the theme of revenge, except what’s on the surface, which is that you risk the chance of losing yourself and become the monster that you are hunting.  Overall though, this is a good film that is worth watching, although you need to be aware that it is very violent (so much so, that it was pretty much banned in Korea, until significant cuts were made to it).

Ranked 10 in Top 25 of 2010