Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002) is a Korean film directed by Park Chan-wook and is the first part of his Vengeance Trilogy, followed by Old Boy (2003) and Lady Vengeance (2005). Although I've seen the entire trilogy, it was accidentally out of order, as a result, this was the last movie in the trilogy I saw. There isn't continuity between the three movies in the sense that they are all individual stories; instead, they are united thematically and stylistically.
Without spoiling the movie (because the deepest level of hell is reserved for people who release spoilers. Also people who bring infants to the movie theater. Seriously, hire a babysitter), the story follows Ryu, a deaf-mute with an anarchist girlfriend and a sick sister desperately in need of a kidney transplant. This desperation leads Ryu to kidnap his former employer's (Dong-jin) daughter to demand a ransom. Of course, things don't go off perfectly, from a black market organ vendor stealing Ryu's kidney to an unfortunate drowning incident involving Dong-jin's daughter, and both Ryu and Dong-jin are set on converging paths of vengeance in their respective quests for healing.
Park Chan-wook has a very specific style, and all three movies exist in an ethereal dream state where we are never quite sure what is real and what is imaginary. It is not uncommon for characters to encounter ghosts, or what could be perceived as ghosts, and treat it as perfectly normal. This dream-like state is amplified for a North American audience, who do not have the benefit of the same cultural background to clarify what is and is not normal. This is not to say that a North American viewer is completely lost and can't infer proper actions, but a comparison of the Korean and American versions of Old Boy confirms that not everything translates perfectly (re: the ending. But that's a different tale for a different time).
While all three movies are unmistakably that of Park Chan-wook's (in that they are clearly made by the same person, I'm not familiar with his other work), each movie is also unique as well. Devices for story and imagery are different between all three movies. Of course, this is just a review of Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, but it is difficult to talk about one movie without including the other two. In that regard, I believe that Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance is the weakest of the trilogy (the strongest being Old Boy and the middle being Lady Vengeance). My opinion, of course, is influenced by the fact that I have seen the other two movies, and perhaps I would feel differently about it if I had watched them chronologically. Compared to Old Boy and Lady Vengeance, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance drags. The pacing is painfully slow, to the point where both me and my boyfriend were surprised to discover that we were only an hour into the movie after an eternity of watching. Towards the end of the movie, particularly when Ryu and Dong-jin are on their vengeance quests, the pacing does pick up, but the meticulously setting up of the story to that point is slightly too slow. This could be the result of a stylistic choice on the part of the director, as the dragging story and lingering shots does seem to reflect this kind of purgatory the characters seem to be caught in. Alternately, it could be the result of inexperience, as both Old Boy and Lady Vengeance are paced much better.
While all three films are quite violent, and graphically so, the violence is different in Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance. Every action has a reaction, every bad thing that happens is followed by a violent action to attack the evil. What this means is that the violence serves a very specific role, and to that end, we see a very circular "what goes around comes around" story. In this way, it almost makes it a more perfect vengeance story than either Old Boy or Lady Vengeance, where the ends justify the means and "innocent" people are hurt with impunity. What does confuse this vengeance is that we are first treated to solely Ryu's perspective, and then later flip between Ryu and Dong-jin. This confuses where our sympathies are supposed to lie, as both characters are essentially hunting each other. It is again possible that this is intentional, although it does risk detachment from both characters.
Overall, I would highly recommend the entire trilogy, despite the pacing of Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance. While the story does drag and the switch from one to two central viewpoints halfway through the movie is disorienting, it does deliver a good revenge story with strong artistic imagry and a justified if somewhat dissatisfying ending. Though I would argue that both Old Boy and Lady Vengeance are stronger, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance is not a bad movie, but is merely the weakest of three strong movies from Chan-wook. Who exactly Mr. Vengeance is, Ryu or Dong-jin, is a matter of interpretation, however placing your sympathy with one over the other will answer the question for you.
~Sassa
~Sassa
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