Review of Lady Vengeance (2005) by Corey B — 24 Jun 2013

The third movie in Park Chan Wook's vengeance trilogy. Also, probably the worst. Not that it says a lot. It is a fine stylish film like its predessecors. The keyword being "stylish" here. It is truly the most stylised movie of the three but it is the movie's weakest point. That's probably because a director like Park has a a knack for style. This time he fell into his own trap. He made a too stylised movie. Other than that I have to admit that as a companion to the forementioned movies it is really what the trilogy needed. The way that vengeance is presented in this film is totally different than in "...Mr. Vengeance" and "Oldboy". "...Mr. Vengeance" was cold and heartless. "Oldboy" tragic and epic. "...Lady Vengeance" walks somewhere between that line and also depicts the impact that a circle of vengeance has in both victims and survivors. The story is about Geum-Ja. A woman who's framed by her lover and partner in crime. Now she is being released from prison and is bent on revenge on him. Only she is not alone, no. The script moves gracefully between Geum-Ja's time in prison and the time that her pursuit for revenge takes place. Thus, it creates a complete picture about how her plan came about, the people involved in it and the changes in her own personality and motivations. Going deeper into the plot would be revieling some key points about it so I would want to delve in that territory. In general it is a fine story with quite a few twists and turns but also one with more humanity than "...Mr. Vengeance". Also, as in all the trilogy, our main character is shown in a grey light really. And we come to the direction... The weakest link. All evidence here show's that this is a Park Chan Wook movie. Still, as forementioned, everything is too stylised almost in a way that destroy's the movie. To be honest for almost the first half of the movie I found the way that the transition between present and past was made quite tiring. The editing is also a contributing factor here because a lot of the forementioned transitions were done using post production "tricks", in addition to the rest of the editing which is quite choppy. The movie though is saved by the story, Geum-Ja's compelling character and the performances. After the first half Park finds his form and the movie becomes cold and unforgiving as it really begins to get across its message. Again, I don't want to be revieling about the plot but I have to say that the direction fits the story greatly as the movie reaches its climax. Note, that you really have to see the "Fade to White" version as the director intented it, because really this is his strongest card in this movie. Otherwise he would have completely lost it. As far as the acting goes I have to say that the vengeance trilogy really shines. In "...Mr. Vengeance" we had amazing performances by Ha-kyun Shin and Kang-ho Song, in "Oldboy" by Min-sik Choi and Yu Ji-tae. Now it is Yeong-ae Lee's to deliver a career's performance as the complex Geum-Ja. I really can't think of any actress that could pull a character like her in such a style. Every emotion is projected as it should be and you may find yourself really sucked into the movie just by that performance. Not to say that the rest don't live up to the expectation but they simply aren't as good as our protagonist. To sum up, while the movie is one of the weakest of Park's filmography there is no doubt that it is a film worht watching. It offers everything one should expect from such a movie and maybe too much. You should check it if your looking for a compelling drama or thriller.

Actually this movie, upon a second viewing, is a masterpiece. The things that bothered me are still there but they just bother me a whole lot less. "...Mr. Vengeance" is clearly worse than his female counterpart.