The opening scenes of I Saw the Devil, the latest drama/horror from Choi Min-sik (Oldboy) with director Jee-woon Kim (A Tale of Two Sisters), are enough to make you wince, gasp, and shrink in your seat.
It's no ordinary cop/bad guy film; a police detective (Byung-hun Lee) becomes borderline insane in order to execute "proper" revenge against a serial killer (Min-sik) who murdered his pregnant fianceé.
And lucky for film junkies with appetites for blood-pounding adrenaline, suspense, and a few killer (literally) action scenes, MADCAP Theaters will screen the film this Friday and Saturday night -- just in time for the movie's official DVD release on May 10.
Masochism fans might enjoy the detective's main motivation -- not bringing the killer to justice, but rather inflicting as much pain as he possible on his target. Unfortunately for quick-action fans (with little patience), the first few scenes are slow-paced and often tiresome as the two main characters play cat-and-mouse.
We found ourselves waiting for the dramatic and "regular" parts to go by just to see some people get messed up.
It's great to see Choi Min-sik as the serial killer Kyung-chul and Byung-hun as "silent badass" Detective Soo-hyeon.For a film that revolves around murder, revenge, and pain, the gore factor isn't very high, but director Jee-woon Kim knows when to introduce a scalpel and split a face to get an audience reaction.
While I Saw the Devil may not live up to A Tale of Two Sisters or Oldboy, it's well put together, full of insanity, and definitely worth a watch.
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