I Saw The Devil

I Saw The Devil (Ang-Ma-Reul Bo-At-Da) (2010)

Runtime: 142 minutes

Directed by: Kim Jee-Woon

Starring: Byung-Hun Lee, Min-Sik Choi, In-Seo Kim, Ho-Jin Chun, Joon-Hyeok Lee

From: Several South Korean companies

This will be gone from Netflix Instant in a few days, so I finally watched it; it wasn't the easiest thing in the world to experience, yet I can say it's great. I explain why below in my Letterboxd review:

I've known about this movie for a long while now, but as I know it wouldn't be an easy watch that's why I put off watching it; however, it will be gone from Netflix Instant on the 9th so I knew this had to be the time for viewing. I am not sure I want to put myself through the experience of watching this again... yet I can say it is great.

I am sure most are familiar with the plot of how a serial killer murders a young lady who happens to be the fiancee of someone who was in the South Korean version of the CIA; he decides to get revenge, but once he tracks him down, his idea of revenge is not killing him right away but instead constantly tormenting him, leading to a good number of incredibly tense and suspenseful sequences.

Like I said, this was not an easy watch; it's still of a very high quality. The performances from the two leads is quality and so is such things as direction, cinematography-the movie is very beautiful to look at-shot selection, and music. What makes this have a deservedly high reputation is that you are left to make up your own mind about the journey that the protagonist (Soo-Hyun) goes on and you can decide when or if he crosses the line and if he acts as terribly as serial killer Kyung-Chul; certainly, Soo-Hyun's actions started to affect his loved ones and he did not see the repercussions of what he was doing. I admit that some elements were a little on the far-fetched side, but I decided to let it slide and enjoy this & the themes it was presenting.

The best compliment I can think to give this movie is that despite how graphic it was, how many gross scenes were present, and how much of it is from the point of view of Kyung-Chul, I always found this super compelling and even if I had to look away a few times from the brutality, I was never turned off or made mad. This definitely isn't for everyone; those of you that can stomach this, though, this is a must-see. I have enjoyed all of Kim Jee-Woon's films and I'll see the rest in the future.