Kim Jee-woon‘s I Saw the Devil probably owes a debt to Chan-wook Park’s Vengeance trilogy as Korean filmmakers seem to have cornered the market on violent and authentic revenge tales. Unfortunately it’s not as accomplished as Park’s film in its execution, primarily because it doesn’t seem to accomplish much at all, but the comparison is easy enough to make.
While telling a story of the corrupting nature of evil, we watch as a special investigator mines the depths of depravity to exact revenge on the man who killed his fiancee. At nearly two and a half hours long we wallow in this blood bath only to come out dirty and confused on the other end. Jee-woon knows how to keep an audience engaged and first time cinematographer Mogae Lee can frame a shot with the best of them, but when your capably told story only seems to encourage a gag reflex more than anything else, there doesn’t seem to be much reason to watch.
Choi Min-sik (Oldboy) plays the sadistic Kyung-Chul. When asked by one of his soon-to-be victims not to kill her he asks her, “Why?” Through tears she replies, “Because I’m pregnant.” Seconds later her head is removed from her body and what’s left of her is chopped up and rolled away. This is only the beginning.
The girl Kyung-Chul just killed is not only the daughter of a local police chief, but the fiance of secret agent Soo-hyun (Lee Byung-hun). Asking for some time off to deal with his “pain,” Soo-hyun begins a private investigation of his own. He sorts through a crowd of misfits and zeroes in on Kyung-Chul, but not with the intention of killing him, or bringing him to justice, but punishing him to satiate his need for revenge. The film begins to explore the extent Soo-hyun will go to for said revenge and as the title insinuates, how far he’ll go once he’s seen the Devil.
From here the film develops into a series of circumstances where it becomes clear Soo-hyun isn’t dealing with just your average, run-of-the-mill serial killer. Kyung-Chul is akin to a member of the Hewitt family with cannibalistic friends whose reasons for doing what they do are as unclear to them as they are to us. In short, they are the embodiment of evil, presenting a foe Soo-hyun wasn’t exactly ready for.
So as the blood flows toward the film’s gory conclusion you’re left to wonder what exactly the takeaway from all of this is. Are we meant to rejoice in the violence on screen? Are we supposed to be squirming in our seat as Kim Jee-woon doesn’t exactly show us all the gory details, but shows us enough to make your stomach turn? I Saw the Devil is presented with full authenticity and whether it’s one man shoveling raw human flesh into his mouth or Kyung-Chul sifting through his own feces, you better believe this is a film sure to sicken more than just the faint-hearted.
Beyond the content, the film is exceptionally made. I still haven’t seen Kim Jee-woon’s A Tale of Two Sisters, which inspired the American remake The Uninvited, but his The Good, the Bad, the Weird is a solid bit of fun just as much as it is nothing like I Saw the Devil. This film also has it’s share of dark humor, though it’s admittedly very dark. Such as a scene in a hospital where Soo-hyun saves a young nurse from Kyung-Chul raping her only to ask her to stick around after he pummels him because “he’ll need medical attention.” I laughed.
It’s also expertly shot as I mentioned earlier. It’s surprising to learn this is Mogae Lee’s first time as a director of photography. He has a cinematographer’s eye I’d be surprised if it didn’t capture the attention of the likes of Wong Kar Wai the way he blends colors and darkness. Reds pop off the screen and a scene taking place in a green house is just as lush as you’d imagine before the violence sets in.
Playing Soo-hyun, Lee Byung-hun is probably best known stateside for playing Storm Shadow in the recent G.I. Joe film, but his roles in Jee-woon’s previous films such as The Good, the Bad, the Weird and A Bittersweet Life (a film I still need to see) are more his calling card. Here he’s the silent victim with an eye for blood and his anger and rage can be seen in his eyes leading up to the finale where all emotions are laid on the table.
Opposite Byung-hun, Choi Min-sik is devilishly vicious as the maniacal serial killer with a taste for rape and murder. He’s an ultimate villain without rhyme or reason, but what we’re meant to get out of it isn’t exactly clear.
I read an interview with Jee-woon where he said he hopes audiences will come away from this film happy to know their lives aren’t anything like what they see in this film. He hopes the audience will relish the peace in their lives by comparison. I don’t know about you, but I don’t need to watch a bunch of blood and violence to get that message.
This isn’t to say this is a film without intrigue. What captured my attention most was the search for the meaning of it all. My mind was racing throughout the entire film, trying to figure out what I should takeaway. Why was I watching it? Why was it made? Therefore it was unfortunate once I got to the end and found there really wasn’t much of an answer to any of it. To go by Jee-woon’s expressed intentions I should have been happy I simply managed to watch it and still felt good about myself. In that case the film is a success, otherwise it’s pretty much a morally corrupt, well made film that could have been much, much more.
