What is a devil? Would you consider it to be a serial killer without remorse? What about an authority figure who toys with said serial killer rather than taking him out and potentially doing more damage to society? Book-ended by a pair of severed noggins, this latest tale from the South Korean director Kim Jee-woon, I Saw The Devil, is an operatically violent revenge fantasy in which leaky veins trump airtight logic. It’s also one of my favorite movies in the past 10 years, if not more.
It begins with a sweet young woman, Ju-yeon (Oh San-ha), getting a flat tire on a remote country road, where she’s approached by what appears at first to be a Good Samaritan. But Kyung-chul (Choi Min-sik) is not, as soon becomes brutally clear—but this remorseless killer has just chosen the wrong girl to add to his string of victims. Her fiancé, Soo-hyun (Lee Byung-hun), just happens to be a government agent who’s well-trained in tracking down evildoers and exacting justice upon them.
After obtaining a list of suspects, tracking each one down on his own and taking a direct approach to questioning them (“Someone smashed his balls,” a cop matter-of-factly says about of those questionees), Soo-hyun gets his man. But what then? I Saw The Devil reaches what would be the climactic setpiece of a traditional thriller shortly before the hour mark, but Soo-hyun isn’t interested in bringing Kyung-chul in, or even simply killing him. He’s got a much more elaborate punishment planned: one whose execution will lead him into emotional and spiritual places as dark as any where his enemy dwells.
The performances are phenomenal; Byung-hun Lee (who you saw as Storm Shadow in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra) embodies the damaged psyche of a mourning lover while also putting on the mask of a vengeful monster at a believable and almost scary level. Min-sik Choi (of Oldboy fame), however, at times upstages Lee with his disturbing portrayal of a completely miserable human being. Choi plays a calm cool and collected serial killer and looking into his eyes becomes absolutely chilling and hearing his voice just adds tension to the scenes. Choi embodies the character that shows no remorse or regrets for his actions at a sickening and disturbing level.
I think the most disturbing thing about the movie is how watchable it ends up being even with all the brutal and sadistic the violence upon women and other characters. Jee-woon Kim is unafraid to show you uncompromising shots of shocking violence and giving them to you in an almost nonstop fashion. I’m not exactly one that cringes at violence, but as former athlete (in a long ago and far away time), there’s a scene involving an ACL that makes my toes curl. When the characters are not maiming each other they are involved in sequences of dialogue describing sadistic intentions or sneaking in some dark uncomfortable laughs.
The conflict the audience takes on is how far we are willing to accept Soo-hyeon’s revenge before he becomes almost as unlikeable as Kyung-chul. Of course Kyung-chul is morally reprehensible as a character and it’s natural to want to see him get what he deserves but what you don’t want to happen is to see the man tasked with being the hero descend to his level to the point where you don’t take joy in the revenge. You never get to the point where you feel the psychopath Kyung-chul didn’t deserve the torture, but you do feel the dread of the consequences of Soo-hyeon’s actions.
If my overwhelming praise hasn’t already sent you running to go check it out you’re already missing out. I loved I Saw The Devil more than any movie I’ve seen in some time. I didn’t revel in the gratuitous and brutal violence, but I admire the filmmaker’s commitment to it and I was left in awe by how it affected me. The cinematography is gorgeous, the script is sharp and sometimes funny and the two main performances are phenomenal. I’m not one to say that it’s perfect, as that’s a pretty vaunted plateau, but I have very little if anything to gripe about here. Jee-woon Kim’s I Saw The Devil is an intense, brutal and haunting work of art that I personally won’t soon forget. Do see it as soon as possible.