Fridae

Of the three top directors of Korean New Wave cinema, Song Hae-seong (Failan) is noted for his ability to craft characters that strike an emotional chord with audiences, Park Chan-wook (the Vengeance trilogy) for his grasp on thematic storytelling, and coming in a distant third, Kim Ji-woon for his extreme visual style. While Park Chan-wook may have had the last word on the futility of vengeance, I Saw the Devil represents Kim’s effort at the same subject.

The gory revenge thriller I Saw the Devil has secret agent Lee Byung-hun devising an excruciating revenge on Choi Min-sik’s depraved serial killer after the latter picks his wife as his latest victim. Kim Ji-woon puts his visual style to great use to create an Asian torture porn film with lots of blood, severed body parts, and extremely uncomfortable torture. The gimmick is while Choi’s serial killer chops up his victims through the course of the film, it is the grieving Lee who exacts his pound of flesh by hunting down the killer, torturing him, then setting him free for the next round of the hunt. Visually, the various setpieces showcase the director’s visual creativity and can be considered the high points of the film.

As a perverse showcase of Kim Ji-woon’s weak points, I Saw the Devil does not even come close to fulfilling its billing (and the logic of its script) as a revenge tragedy where the avenger becomes a monster. Played too much for a moralising crowd and mainstream expectations, Lee Byung-hun’s avenger never strays far away from being an avenging angel who gets the bastards who all deserve what’s coming and Choi Min-sik’s villain is a one-note moustache twirling, hysterically laughing psychopath with no redeeming qualities. At no point does the script threaten to overturn the designated roles these two begin with. The long runtime coupled with a one-note script does make the film feel more protracted than it is.

It also rankles me that at no point does the avenger commit any real moral outrage in the film, but various characters pointlessly repeat ad nauseam that they fear he has done so or that they fear he has messed with the wrong person.

I Saw the Devil should be fine enough if you’re into torture porn and gory films. If you’re interested in a film that actually achieves what I Saw the Devil promised but failed to deliver, I recommend the excellent The Devil’s Rejects by Rob Zombie.