Review: I Saw the Devil

Revenge films tend to be exceptionally heavy and nihilistic, and I Saw the Devil (2010) doesn’t falter on these points. As usual, I went into this totally blind and under the impression (for no real reason) that it was just a scary story, and what I got was a merciless bloodbath that's painful in more ways than one. Big trigger warning for violence, gore, and the stress of The Most Dangerous Game. (Note: I’ve since learned that the international version edited out a very graphic scene of sexual assault, so bear in mind if you decide to watch!)

The movie opens on another late work night for government agent Kim Soohyeon (Lee Byunghun), who receives a call from his fiancée, Jooyeon (Oh Sanha). Alone on the side of the road, she's waiting in the car for her tow truck to arrive when she's approached by a man driving a hagwon minibus who offers to help her. In the meantime, Soohyeon instructs her to do what she already knows: wait for the tow truck, don’t open the door. But locked doors aren't enough to stop not-yet-convicted serial killer Jang Kyungchul (Oldboy's Choi Minsik), who's chosen Jooyeon as the next of many bodies left in his wake.

With some help from her retired policeman father, a grieving Soohyeon doesn't waste a moment in taking it upon himself to not only find Jooyeon's killer, but to give him a vengeful dose of the pain he caused her as well. This punishment comes quickly, as he finds Kyungchul the same day, beats him half to death, and then lets him go—but now with a tracker. From here it's a game of cat-and-mouse, where Kyungchul grows increasingly tired of being strong-armed into submission each time he tries to hurt someone, and Soohyeon struggles time and time again to force Kyungchul into feeling even an ounce of remorse, to no avail. 

Visually, the movie follows the color palette set in the poster, and it looks great if you don't mind the content (detailed gore, psychopathic desire to maim, general atrocities, etc). Serial killers are often depicted a certain way, but Choi Minsik plays Kyungchul extra cold; he makes murders seem like a habit that he indulges as a chore. This creates an unsettling dynamic between main characters. Soohyeon's obsessive coping mechanism is torturing Kyungchul, who’s totally unburdened by fear or pain. As Soohyeon descends to a point of no return, his father-in-law advises that "he can't become a monster to kill another monster"—and he's not wrong, but he's not right. Ironically, the most brutal scenes are actually helmed by Soohyeon, one of which he advises someone off-screen not to look and plug their ears. I didn't listen, and I kind of wish I had.

I Saw the Devil is a story where there are no winners. It's bleak to say the least, but I do recommend it if crime thrillers are your thing. One of the most intriguing parts of the story is that it doesn’t go out of its way to be realistic, and it makes the fantasy come to life in a way that’s almost whimsical—secret agent Soohyeon beating up irredeemably bad guys? A tracker in Kyungchul’s body that has a perfectly audible microphone connection? It’s not entirely logical, but these kinds of story elements that just are the way they are and you have to accept it are always fun; which, in context, is a term used lightly.

While it’s a tough watch, stylish cinematography and an excellent score keep things interesting even when it gets repetitive and begins to feel a little two-dimensional. There’s only so far a Good Guy vs Bad Guy story can diverge from the norm, but the satisfaction of watching Lee Byunghun whip his wife’s murderer more than once stays pretty fresh until the bitter, bitter end.