Review of I Saw the Devil (2010) by Muhammad S — 23 Jul 2011

"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster.".

I Saw The Devil takes this famous adage of Nietzsche's at face value, giving the audience a viewing experience that is as unflinchingly brutal as it is thought provoking and beautiful. It's a twisty, bumpy ride that pulls you in and forces you to key in on the violence lest you miss a single plot twist, even as your first inclination is to look away or turn it off.

Directed as it were by prolific Korean genre vet Kim Jee-woon you can expect it's full of nuanced performances and meticulous attention to character development (which is essential or else you'd have bowed out after the first act). Jee-woon proves once and for all, on behalf of his countrymen, that nobody does revenge cinema like Korea.