Review of Lady Vengeance (2005) by Chris O — 23 Nov 2010

The Vengeance Trilogy are an odd trio. They seem to be critically applauded and regarded by many as modern classics, yet out of the two I have seen, I am not convinced. Oldboy was a cinematic treat. Not, in my opinion, a great film, but a film that was excellently made and had a great little twist at the end, that kept me engaged. Lady Vengeance, is also excellently made, but lacks the knockout punch that the original film managed to deliver. The knockout punch that managed to push Oldboy out from being a 'quite good' film to being a good one. In Lady Vengeance there is no such punch, which ends up leaving Lady Vengeance in the 'quite good' zone.

The plot is obviously about revenge, and the elaborate lengths at which the main protagonist goes in order to get it. Geum-Ja is a female criminal, imprisoned for the murder of a young boy. After a lengthy prison sentence, she is released and immediately sets her sights on revenge, as she has been set up by someone. Calling on favours from old prisoners, her plan comes into fluition and begins her hunt for who imprisoned her for their crimes. The plot is fairly standard for the revenge/thriller genre and manages to freshen it up a little with some extra quirks, but I never really believed in the characters.

Geum-Ja was so bitter about her incarceration that I never felt a scrap of sympathy for her. I suppose the whole point of the film was to show us that revenge isn't sweet and that it is a life changing, and possibly ruining, force. However, in order to make Geum-Ja's quest seem more humbling and affecting, we should have been made to feel at least a little sympathy for her. Of course we do empathise with her as she has gone through a terrible ordeal, yet we never have a sense of pathos towards her, and it is something that was sorely lacking.

Although the film didn't pack any real twist into the ending, the final scenes (the revenge) were very well shot and engaging, definately the most engaging of the whole film. Overall, I really can't see what all the fuss is about. So far, The Vengeance trilogy isn't living up to the regard at with which it is being held by so many.

6/10.