Review of I Saw the Devil (2010) by Benjamin J — 08 Jan 2012

In some senses this film is standard fare for a Korean revenge thriller in the style of Oldboy, Man From Nowhere and A Bittersweet Life- well acted, shot beautifully and filled with twists and turns that aren't pointlessly shoehorned in (I.

E. pretty much the opposite of most US and UK attempts at the same). This one did an even more impressive job. Byung-Hun Lee (A Bittersweet LIfe) and Min-sik Choi (Oldboy) are paired brilliantly as the serial killer and the agent tracking him down.

The brilliance lies not in the ever creative uses of violence throughout the film (although it is entertaining, I do have to admit) but the genuine depth of the characters. The killer is as despicable and watchable as Frank Booth in Blue Velvet and, likewise, doesn't come across as an evil mastermind but a desperately impotent and pathetic individual who manages to convince people that he is actually scary.

Unlike many of the horror movies of the 70s and 80s, the misogyny remains a part of the character and his weakness rather than a general undercurrent of the film that makes you question the motives and feelings of the director himself.

You know that the director doesn't hate women and that it's all a part of this terrible little man. The true mastermind of violence is the agent tracking down the killer. In a similar turn, his genius-level sadism doesn't get displayed as something we should applaud but as something increasingly sad as a normal individual turns into an absolute monster.

This film is rare: a movie filled with torture and rape that doesn't celebrate either and shows the only people who take pleasure in violence are those who should be pitied. Loved it.