First Viewing.
Korean’s certainly know how to make a revenge movie! I Saw the Devil treads familiar ground to that seen previously in Oldboy, with both movies pertaining a ruthless sadistic streak throughout in their protagonist’s pursuit of vengeance. In both movies Min-sik Choi is the recipient of said vengeance, but here, in I Saw the Devil, he’s much more deserving of what is coming his way. It can be a pretty gruesome watch at times, well, most of the time it’s all rather gruesome. ISTD isn’t quite up to the high standard of Jee-Woon Kim’s standout film, A Bittersweet Life, but that’s a truly high standard to constantly live up to. ISTD is shot in a stylish and captivating way, and it’s a dark, dark, dark film yet perversely entertaining. If you can stomach the extreme violence then you’ll enjoy this
Marks out of ten – Seven
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