J'ai rencontré le diable

There's a mad man around Jang Kyung-chul, whose favourite hobby is to maim and to cull, mainly defenceless girls, with a knife he unfurls, after they've taken a bash on the skull.

But he's taken the wrong lady on, and events are starting to go wrong, there's a rather keen cop, loved the girl he's just topped, and he's out for revenge Kim Soo-hyeon.

Kim Soo-hyeon likes to play with his prey, adds more value if the hunt can replay, starts with a forfeiture, then ends with some torture, Jang Kyung-chul has the devil to pay.

This movie is probably the heaviest one I have ever seen in terms of mental and physical brutality even though I know movies that touch me even more. Anybody that has problems with torture scenes, cannibalism, violations and explicit sexual content as well as repetitive harsh language should stop reading here and lock for something else. Anybody else is invited to watch a movie about a monster you have never seen before.

The movie turns around the question if one can and if so, how one could fight a monster. If two monsters fight each other can there be a winner and what are the consequences for other involved people. The movie hides in fact a lot of philosophical content and depth beneath the surface of blood and gore and is less superficial than it might seem at first sight.

The movie is comparable to the story of the great Korean vengeance trilogy around "Sympathy for Mister Vengeance", "Oldboy" and "Lady Vengeance". It has the same harsh language and great acting as the Korean crime masterpiece "Memories of murder". It has the same philosophical content as the Canadian "Les sept jours du talion". Those movies can be references but this flick isn't comparable to any Hollywood production. This movie is also much heavier than any of the mentioned movies and something like that could only be a success in a country like Korea because it would be cut or banned in Europe or North America. Be sure to catch the uncut version no matter how high the price because it's really worth it.

This movie doesn't only live from its shocking and gripping story and the numerous brutal scenes but also from the amazing acting. Choi Min-sik is one of Korea's greatest actors as he proved in "Oldboy" or "Lady Vengenace" but this time he is even more perfect than I expected. He plays his role with so much credibility and precision and is easily the best interpretation of a serial killer I have ever seen in a movie. Lee Byung-hun plays in a credible way a man that must become a monster to realize his promise and his revenge and he perfectly plays a broken person that goes through extreme changes. The other actors also deliver a more than solid job and remain credible. I must underline the acting of the weird cannibal friend of the monster and his strange wife (you should absolutely check out the deleted scenes).

The director also did a great and very detailed job. The acting is perfect, the settings work very well and a great atmosphere is created. Kim Jee-won already created the dark, calm and mind-blowing masterpiece "A tale of two sisters" and he shows in here that he can also create a heavy, pitiless and extreme movie like this. I happen to estimate him higher and higher and want to check out the rest of his movies.

In the end, this movie isn't maybe as gripping and stunningly original as my favourite Korean flicks "Oldboy", "A tale of two sisters" or "Memories of murder" but it surely is a movie you should check out if you like modern Asian cinema and if you liked the movies I've listed up in this review. It's a little masterpiece you won't forget after you have seen it and it's probably the best movie of the year to me. I would say that this movie underlines my opinion that the Korean cinema has become the best in the world during the last years.

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.

Just came back from the TIFF 10 screening of the UNCUT version of this film, and after reading the very first review posted here, I feel somewhat compelled to leave a short comment.

the movie is about revenge. a woman is murdered by a serial killer, the woman's soon-to-be husband, who happens be a highly trained special agent, takes revenge on the serial killer in some of the most gruesome ways ever presented on film.

The "TAKEN"-esque plot is fairly straight forward and even predictable at times, for some people, this unfortunately exposes the violence and turns it into a dominating theme, hence remarks of it being mindless and unnecessary are brought up.

But fans of this genre can easily see past the violence, and be drawn back to the noir nature of the film with each passing violence "segement", in the end, you can feel the main character's will for revenge, and that simply transcends the violence, and ultimately turns the film into an imaginative commentary on the human condition.

the film would also remind you of classic Fincher films, namely se7en, however, the theatrical construction of plot is a signature Ji Woon Kim style, the mise-en-scene, the soundtrack, you see it in every single film of his, especially bittersweet life.

after watching this film I found myself immediately comparing it to another masterpiece sympathy for mr.vengeance, so for those of you who have seen chan wook park's revenge trilogy and loved it, you should find time to see this film.

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.