MOVIE REVIEW: Sympathy For Mr.Vengeance 2002With his sister in need of a new kidney, deaf art student Ryu (Hy-kyun Shin) quits school and takes a job working in a factory to fund her transplant. He approaches her doctor about the operation and is told that he does not have the right blood type for donation. Ryu seeks help from a black market organ service for help but things do not turn out as planned. The hospital later contacts him to say they have a donor match but Ryu no longer has the needed funds, 10 million won ($10,000). Desperate for cash, Ryu devises a plan along with his militant girlfriend to kidnap the child of his wealthy former employer Park Don jing (Kang Ho-Song)...you see homeboy was fired from the factory. The trio forms a bond with the little girl and ensures that no harm comes to her. Meanwhile Park is gathering the needed funds to recover his kidnapped child. Once Park discovers that a tragic accident has claimed the life of his daughter, he goes on a quest for vengeance. Ryu is on a similar quest to get revenge against those who bilked him out of his money and left him high and dry. Will these two men snuff each other out before they can get their comeuppance? No more spoilers from me y'all!
Talk about moving at a snail's pace, this movie was so damn slow! I contemplated turning it off several times. The action really picks up towards the end, if you stick with it, the reward is good. A bloody finale where there are no clear winners or losers always work for me. This film is weird, wild and imaginative.... just like most Asian extreme cinema. The acting was pretty good. Hy-kyun Shin as Ryu was compelling as a green-haired deaf mute who does the unthinkable to save his belvoed sister. Kang Ho-Song rocks as the dad so hell-bent on revenge that he will stop at nothing to achieve it. A must-see scene is the sex scene using sign language..hilarious! To sum up the movie, it is a sad tale of desperate people doing desperate things. The subject matter is dark and harsh, yet surprisingly funny (nevermind me, I am morbid lol). Asian cinema is hard for some to follow because the story lines are all over the place and you need a good attention span to keep up. This film is the first saga in a trilogy by director Chan Park Woo. The second was Lady Vengeance and the third was Old Boy. If you check my archives, I have reviewed them as well. Out of the three, Old Boy was the most spectacular...perfect in every way. It is not hard to follow at all, a plus for Asian cinema newbies. Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance is in Korean with English subtitles, has strong language and contains extreme violence.
VERDICT: 3 Soul Claps
Labels: Movie Reviews
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, February 06, 2007 at 1:46 PM.
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