seikeden-1

Sam Worthington has an interesting take on the character of Macbeth but overall his performance was surprisingly compelling. There's some really good and some really not so good aspects to this film. Firstly, It's all shot with HD cameras, which is a fairly brave move as it's an emerging discipline and I think was managed rather well *mostly* I really am unable to comment with any authority on the accuracy or delivery of the lines, not having read or seen Macbeth, but apart from a few almost comically ocker Aussie delivered lines, it was handled with a fair degree of finesse and even didn't feel out of place for the majority of the movie.

The action scenes (of which there are surprisingly many) are well choreographed and shot.. with the exception of the big finale schlock-fest, which seems entirely shot in slow-motion and to be honest felt like it was more a bad remake of the ending of scarface than Macbeth.

The only other, fairly minor gripe I had was with the soundtrack.. which felt like it could have needed some more money/polishing/talent. Nice effort but not at all satisfying.

Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance is, simply put, the best film I have seen all year.

Chan-wook Park's mastery of cinematic language is stunning. I Recently saw Oldboy, and was intrigued by the style and freshness of that film. but where Oldboy sometimes degenerates (albeit in a very entertaining fashion) into simple violence and visceral satisfaction, Mr. Vengeance does not.

Those not accustomed to a slower paced film may say that there is too much postulation and ambiguity in this film, but they would be completely wrong. Never has a film managed to capture my attention so fully as this one. The majority of the time, we are left in quiet reflection of the events hat have taken place. The setting is rich and South Korea is shown in all its glory as a culture emerging from a somewhat torn past.

Every moment is beautifully framed and executed, and there are multiple ways in which the viewer is drawn into the lives of the characters that exist in this space. Colour is obviously very important to park, as each moment is perfectly balanced and flows from frame to frame in a way that would make most Hollywood directors green with envy.

The themes of vengeance and tragic fate are intertwined in such a way that almost numbs the senses after a time. Even though there is no "hero" or "villian" in this film, each character shares the spotlight in turn and the motivations for their actions are slowly revealed, justified, and then torn apart as fate intervenes to bring everything to a point of complete helplessness and futility.

A very powerful, beautiful film.