Full Movie Reviews
Rating of
3.5/4
Lady Vengeance (Chinjeolhan geumjassi) review
Daniel Corleone - wrote on 12/06/2012
Lee Geum-ja (Lee Young Ae) was convicted of killing a young boy. Her reputation has been televised and known after murdering a nasty inmate. Mr. Baek (Choi Min-sik) is the main reason for her revenge while she searches for her daughter, who was adopted. Still composes of humor, authentic acting from the lead, subtle provocative screenplay and gorgeous direction. Not as action packed, cool and entertaining as Oldboy, the film resonates because of its themes and camera movements. The antagonist's impact was not as terrifying as well while the lead and kid showed talent. Best lines delivered were: "Everyone make mistakes. But if you committed a sin, you have to make an atonement for that sin. Atonement, do you know what that means? Big Atonement for big sins. Small Atonement for small …
Rating of
4/4
"Lady Vengeance" by Yojimbo
Yojimbo - wrote on 05/19/2012
The final part of Chan-wook Park's vengeance trilogy sees an angelic looking young woman imprisoned for the kidnap and murder of a young child. Upon her release from prison 13 years later, her plan for vengeance on the real killer is set in motion. The core of the film is the duality of Yeong-ae Lee's role; her angelic appearance belying her ruthless and single-minded pursuit of her goal and her quest for vengeance tempered by her feelings guilt about her part in the boy's death. It's not as bleak as Oldboy and does not have it's complex relationships and twists and turns in plot. The characters find some form of redemption by it's end, although the psychology of revenge is examined; do two wrongs make a right? Min-sik Choi's child killer is completely without redeeming qualities, but it …
Rating of
3.5/4
Listen carefully. Everyone make mistakes.
gideon43 - wrote on 05/26/2010
South Korea is one of the few countries in the world where, until recently, Hollywood productions did not enjoy a dominant share of the domestic market and with movies such as A Tale Of Two Sisters, Oldboy and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, Western audiences continue to be equally delighted and perplexed.
Sympathy is not a straightforward revenge thriller, its a tale of redemption and distortion and is played out on a grandeur scale.
Lee Geum-Ja (as played by the excellent Lee Young Ae) has a complex disposition and is portrayed as kind hearted and generous and brutal and psychotic (sometimes, in the same scene).
Her motives soon become clear and we are subject to savage prison scenes as Lee Geum-Ja makes many allies amongst her fellow inmates.
Early in the movie director Park …
Rating of
2/4
Franz Patrick - wrote on 12/23/2007
I feel like Korean films have a certain poetic atmosphere in them. This is no different. Although it is basically a story of revenge, it doesn't feel menacing. In fact, when it's serious, it's somewhat darkly comic or sweet. I think that's my problem with it: I never tasted a certain darkness that I normally look for in revenge films. I was expecting more "Kill Bill"--you know, full of eye-popping action and excellent one-liners. I did get to see a new level of vengeance, though. Instead of making it personal, the retribution is kind of public yet still twisted and fun. If one is into Asian films, this is the one for him or her. But for me, poetry and exquisite details just doesn't cut it. In my opinion, a revenge film has to have a certain bite--a bite that can never or rarely be …
