Review of Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002) by Neil P — 21 Jan 2013

Possibly the most stylish film I've seen by Chan Wook Park, yet. There are some really memorable choices of camera angles and framings such as the scene where people are walking up stairs or a scene shot from underneath some steps (the guy has a knack for making stairs look cool).

There is also a scene where you think one thing is happening only to see the reality as he moves between rooms in a darkly comic scene. The story itself almost revels in characters bad luck, particularly in that of Ryu, the deaf mute.

I thought the story had stumbled though about half-way through as I had no sympathy for Ryu and was curious as to how I'd root for him. It turns out another character is more th focus of the second half of the film and vengeance becomes the overbearing theme with everyone's actions being a vengeaful reaction to a previous scene.

The cast all do a great job and my only criticism are the bizarre scenes with the character who appears to be mentally/physically disabled. No idea what that was about. Maybe not the most polished of the "vengeance" trilogy but it does show some of the director's raw talent in a way the later films don't.