J'ai rencontré le diable

Whenever I see a negative review of "I Saw the Devil", the critic always mentions (scornfully) that the movie is ultra violent and portrays women in horrifying circumstances. Yes it is, and yes it does.

But this isn't a Hollywood slasher flick. The kills in this movie are not gratifying and aren't meant to be. The women being killed are not scantily clad models running through forests from men wearing masks. There is nothing pleasant or "cool" about these scenes; they make the viewer uncomfortable, they unsettle, they bring one's mind into very dark places. It gives us a peek into the madness that every man is capable of, and does so realistically and without pulling its punches. This brutal realism makes people uncomfortable, and prompts negative reviews. This is understandable, but unfortunate. I believe that a movie should be judged on more than the amount of blood the viewer is comfortable seeing on-screen. To these people, please, do not watch Korean revenge thrillers if you are uncomfortable with torture or blood.

But enough of that rambling. This movie is excellent. Beautiful cinematography contrasts the stark, dimly lit scenes where the murders, or gritty fight scenes, occur. The camera work is simple but effective; the viewer is often treated to close-ups of both Byung-hun Lee and Mik-sik Choi, and their facial expressions tell us more than dialogue ever could. There is also contrast between Lee and Choi. Lee, clean and stoic, and Choi, filthy and madly expressive. They compliment each other very well, and play off of each others strengths effectively.

The story itself is typical of revenge films, but fantastic in its execution. Lee's character experiences a profound loss at the hands of Choi's character, and in the process of seeking revenge begins to resemble the man he so hates. The line between "victim" and "aggressor" becomes blurred between both characters. This is where the film shines. There is no black and white in "I Saw the Devil"; the viewer is left with shades of grey.

As for the acting, it was all done very well. As I mentioned, Lee and Choi work well together, and all supporting cast members did an excellent job. Choi portrays his character in an incredibly convincing manner, shifting suddenly from calmness to manic anger, but never in a way that feels unnatural or forced. Lee's character is quiet and much less expressive, but he does very well in showing immense amounts of emotion through just his eyes or subtle movements of his body. A memorable performance from them both.

As for flaws, the only thing I can think of is the strange, perhaps unrealistic behaviour of the police. Lee is a member of the NIS, and is very skilled when it comes to remaining hidden, but that shouldn't make him untouchable when directly provoking police officers or driving on the wrong side of the street. Still, though, it's a very trivial complaint that isn't worth a deducted point.

A confident 10/10 from me. If you are comfortable seeing serial murder portrayed realistically, and are able to appreciate more than just gore, please, do yourself a favour and watch this film.

The plot of "I Saw the Devil" revolves around a detective whose beautiful fiancée is savagely murdered by a vicious psychopath played by "Oldboy" himself Min-Sik Choy.Despairing cop quickly tracks down the psycho,tortures him a little and lets him free to play his own gruesome catch-and-release game...Hauntingy beautiful and sickeningly violent thriller from the director of mesmerizing "A Tale of Two Sisters".The cinematography is gorgeous,the action is hypnotic and the murders are savage and unrelenting.The plot is extremely dark and demented,so I was utterly enthralled.You will feel pain,agony and sadness in every inch of your body during "I Saw the Devil".The best serial killer movie since "The Silence of the Lambs".Watch it in pair with Gerald Kargl's "Angst" and be amazed.9 serial killers out of 10.

While the Western half of the world (and Hollywood in particular) was still focused on making torture-porn horror movies with as sole purpose to show as many sickening, repulsive and shocking sequences as humanly possible, the Eastern part of the world (with South Korea as the usual pioneer) evolved to the next level already with "I Saw the Devil". In this fantastic film, perhaps one of the 10 best since the year 2000, the extremely explicit and uncompromising violence is only secondary to the character development and to writer/director Ji-Woon Kim's main message that revenge - contrary to popular belief - doesn't taste sweet at all, but sour instead, and that it leaves a horrible aftertaste in you mouth. You won't see that intensity and genius in a random "Saw" or "Hostel" sequel anytime soon...

Both Choi Min-Sik and Lee Byung-Hun give away stupendous and almost unsurpassable performances. The former as a mad dog serial killer of the cruelest and most disturbing kind. The latter as a special agent turned avenging angel, and at least as cruel and disturbing as the killer. The difference between them is that young Soo-Hyun is driven to blinding rage when his pregnant fiancé falls victim to the sadist serial killer Kyul-chul. Her death so agonizingly painful that Soo-Hyun pledges that her tormentor will suffer just as much and just as brutally as she did. And so, an unspeakably tense game of cat and mouse ensues.

"I Saw the Devil" isn't entirely without flaws, though. The script often requires an enormous dose suspension of disbelief, and according to all laws of human anatomy and pain-endurance, Kyul-chul should have been dead 2 or 3 times. Personally, I really don't like it when horror/thriller movies have running times of more than two hours (which is also why it took me 10 years to finally see it), and even though the film is never boring, it wouldn't have hurt if it was 30-40 minutes shorter. Still, based on the numerous amount of powerful sequences, the nail-biting suspense highlights, the pure evilness of the lead character and the realistic (and often downright nauseating) gore effects, "I Saw the Devil" is one of the most unique films out there, and an absolute must-see for genre fanatics with nerves of steel and a stomach of concrete.

This movie is not for the squeamish, or the faint of heart. Censors claimed it was offensive to human dignity. These were the kinds of things they told the audience at the world premiere screening of the Uncut Version of I Saw the Devil at the Toronto International Film Festival last week. I had heard the movie was pretty graphic, but I never expected that it would push any boundaries. I turned out to be only half right.

After finding out his fiancée has been brutally murdered, secret agent Dae-hoon (Byung-hun Lee) is at a loss. With the help of his father-in-law, he sets out on a revenge plot to find the man who did it. He quickly finds the culprit, Kyung-chul (Min-sik Choi). He beats him pretty badly, but instead of killing him, he leaves him alive. He wants to stalk his prey, and exact his revenge slowly and increasingly more painfully.

Going in with very few ideas of what I was about to see, I was startled and thrilled at the tenacious audacity on display from the opening scene all the way until the final frames. The film is a gritty, merciless experience that could never be truly recreated in North America. This is the kind of hard-boiled revenge thriller you could only find in Korea. And to hear that even the censors there could not handle Kim Ji-woon's complete vision makes the film all the more uncompromising and astounding. It has taken me well over a week to try and come up with the words to describe and review the film, but never once have I forgotten anything I saw. It is quite simply, unforgettable.

I was right in assuming the film would not push the boundaries of what can be shown in regards to graphic violence and gore. But it comes really close. It makes Park Chan-Wook's entire Vengeance Trilogy look about as violent as the Toy Story Trilogy. Blood sprays, flies, drips, gushes – every verb or way blood can possibly flow out of the human body occurs over the course of the film. It relishes in it no matter if the shot is raw, unflinching and real, or hyper stylized and completely over-the-top. One sequence involving a brutal double murder as the camera swoops around the scene in a circle is simply magnificent to watch, both to see how much blood is spilt and for how wicked and incredible a shot it is.

The revenge tale at the core of I Saw the Devil is not all too original, but it is the story and idea around it that is. Very rarely do we see a film with two characters that start off completely different, but very slowly become all in the same. Dae-hoon and Kyung-chul are both very stubborn individuals, who will not back down from each other. They just keep at each other, and even as Kyung-chul is continually beaten, abused and victimized, he never once lets up. I keep coming back to a comparison with Batman and The Joker in The Dark Knight, and how those two menaces push each other to their physical limits, and that is exactly what happens in this film. While it was easy to pick sides in Dark Knight, Ji-woon makes it increasingly difficult for the audience to figure out who they should sympathize with here. It is a haunting and blatantly moral-defying story, and its raw and emotional undertones are more than difficult to swallow.

But the key problem I found with the film is Ji-woon's lack of ability to know when to cut. There are easily twenty minutes that could be chopped right out of the film, and none of its edge would be lost in the process. I was glued to the screen for the majority of the film, but found myself checking my watch more than once because I was totally baffled as to why it runs over 140 minutes. There is only so much revenge one can take and comprehend, and having the film run so long makes it all too easy to call out as being self-indulgent. I respect the film, and I respect Ji-woon as a filmmaker (I wanted to seek out the rest of his film catalogue immediately after the lights came up), but it just makes such an incredible movie feel a bit sloppy and weakened as a cohesive package.

Another inconsistent element is Lee's Dan-hoon. We never learn much about him outside of his being a secret agent and wanting to inflict as much pain as he can through his revenge scheme. So how are we to assume he was not a sick and twisted individual in the first place? How are we to know this is not his first time inflicting such a painful revenge? He rarely speaks, and his cold, calculating eyes never once give us a hint of any further development. It is a great performance by Lee, but it is one that feels very underdeveloped – outside of some rather obvious sequences.

But then, anyone would look underdeveloped when standing next to Choi. The man gives a performance that is the stuff of legend. He was incredible as the lead in Oldboy as the man who was wronged, and is even better as the wrongdoer here. He brings out the monster in Kyung-chul all too easily, and his riveting performance is unmissable. The transformation into this disgusting, psychopathic creature is nothing short of amazing. He chews up scenery at every turn, and is magnetic on screen. Nothing even comes close to equaling the power, intensity and dare I say authenticity he puts into this character. He is the stuff of nightmares.

I Saw the Devil is a great revenge thriller, but is far from perfect. Choi's electric performance alone should become required viewing for anyone with any interest in film.

8/10.

(An edited version of this review also appeared on http://www.geekspeakmagazine.com).

First and foremost, much of this movie borders on, for lack of a better word, the obscene. There are plenty of scenes that bring to mind soft-core pornography, and the violence is incredibly gory and at times, over the top. Some of the actions performed on screen will make most viewers squirm uncomfortably, while a vast majority of those that aren't will let the audience's mind drift to some very, very scary places.

In short, its a visceral thriller. The movie is essentially driven by both lead characters trying to inflict as much pain and terror in one another as possible. Unlike most serial killer/crime thrillers, both the two characters collide (in violent, brutal fashion) with one another many, many times, leaving each other bloodied and eager for the next encounter. During these scenes, the movie takes on an unexpected action tone, with plenty of engaging fights that include knives, scythes, screwdrivers and in one scene, a fire extinguisher. In between these scenes the audience is shown the full depravity of the serial killer's psychopathic nature, who pretty much succeeds on setting the bar for on screen insanity.

If this sounds like a mindless action/thriller summer film, you'd be mistaken. Both Choi M.S and Lee B.H deliver great performances, with Choi in particular acting disturbingly convincing as a completely unhinged maniac. The plot, although somewhat predictable, is nonetheless entertaining and once set in motion, incredibly gripping. There are plenty of cheap "boo! gotcha" scares, but some scenes are masterfully crafted to generate a LOT of tension. Believe me when I say that there were plenty of scenes where you could literally see that the rest of the audience wasn't even breathing, much less moving. As mentioned earlier, the action scenes are shot surprisingly well, and there's a certain pleasure to be derived from watching the hunter become hunted... and in such an exquisite, effective and merciless manner.

On an aside, the movie seems to have remake potential with Hollywood production. Perhaps starring Will Smith and Robert Downey Jr. (as a serial killer? wouldn't you be terrified?), with maybe... Danny Boyle at the helm? Hopefully the movie does well enough in its release to receive any considerations.