Slowly degenerates into a gory revenge thriller that is never thrilling, but is often boring and frequently repulsive.
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance(복수는 나의 것)
✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
Korea · 2002
Rated R · 2h 9m
Director Park Chan-wook
Starring Song Kang-ho, Shin Ha-kyun, Bae Doo-na, Im Ji-eun
Genre Action, Drama, Thriller
Add to Watchlist
Please login to add films to your watchlist.
Ryu needs money for his sister’s kidney transplant. He and his extremist girlfriend hatch a plan to kidnap his former boss’s daughter, but things go horribly wrong. Two revenge plots play out alongside each other in the first installment of what critics call “the Vengeance trilogy.”
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
Perhaps with an open and willing mind, you'll also see the vast difference between this wily consciousness experiment and, say, Rob Zombie's new box of schlocks.
New York Daily News by Jami Bernard
You can't look away, not only because the carnage is so masterfully photographed, but because the director sucks you into his bleak, poetic, even sensible vision of cosmic brutality. Not for the faint-hearted!
Los Angeles Times by Kevin Thomas
When it comes to serving up diabolical horror with bold, sophisticated glee, Park, best known for "Oldboy," is right up there with Dario Argento, Guillermo del Toro and Takashi Miike.
TV Guide Magazine by Maitland McDonagh
The only constant in Park's brilliantly cruel world is this: No matter how badly things seem to be going, there's a twist of fate lurking around the next curve that will make them worse.
The New York Times by Manohla Dargis
There is so much talent on display in Park Chanwook's Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, it is a drag that the film never rises to the level of its director's obvious ability.
Entertainment Weekly by Owen Gleiberman
So badly told that it ends up dissecting a corruption that exudes from nowhere but itself.
The A.V. Club by Tasha Robinson
It's a difficult balancing act, but Park crafts his layers carefully and masterfully. He's the kind of filmmaker who can meaningfully craft the gory details of an eye-gouging without ever forgetting the message that an eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind.
Savage yet spellbinding.
Users who liked this film also liked
Oldboy
(올드보이)
15 years of imprisonment, 5 days of vengeance...
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Korea • 2003
- Director Park Chan-wook
- Cast Choi Min-sik, Yoo Ji-tae, Kang Hye-jung, Kim Byung-ok, Oh Dal-su, Lee Seung-Shin
- Genre Action, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
- Available on Netflix, Netflix basic with Ads, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Spectrum On Demand
Joint Security Area
(공동경비구역 JSA)
Eleven shots! The truth is there.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Korea • 2000
- Director Park Chan-wook
- Cast Lee Byung-hun, Song Kang-ho, Lee Young-ae, Kim Tae-woo, Shin Ha-kyun, Christoph Hofrichter
- Genre Action, Drama, Thriller, War
- Available on Fandor Amazon Channel, Criterion Channel, Kocowa, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube, Tubi TV, AsianCrush, Midnight Pulp
Sympathy for Lady Vengeance
(친절한 금자씨)
It's time for beautiful Lee Guem-ja's revenge.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Korea • 2005
- Director Park Chan-wook
- Cast Lee Young-ae, Choi Min-sik, Kwon Yea-young, Kim Shi-hoo, Nam Il-woo, Kim Byung-ok
- Genre Drama, Thriller
- Available on Metrograph, Tubi TV, Pluto TV, Kanopy, Plex, Plex Channel
I'm a Cyborg, but That's OK
(싸이보그지만 괜찮아)
Convinced she is a cyborg, Youg-goon is admitted into a mental institution where she meets an unexpected match.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Korea • 2006
- Director Park Chan-wook
- Cast Lim Soo-jung, Rain, Oh Dal-su, Lee Yeong-mi, Kim Chun-gi, Park Jun-myun
- Genre Comedy, Drama, Romance
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Cherry Blossoms
(Kirschblüten - Hanami)
You never know what you have until its gone.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Germany • 2008
- Director Doris Dörrie
- Cast Elmar Wepper, Hannelore Elsner, Nadja Uhl, Maximilian Brückner, Aya Irizuki, Birgit Minichmayr
- Genre Drama, Romance
- Available on Strand Releasing Amazon Channel, Amazon Video, Kanopy, Hoopla
Save the Green Planet!
(지구를 지켜라!)
There is an alien conspiracy to take over the Earth. That can’t be true – or can it?
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Korea • 2003
- Director Jang Joon-hwan
- Cast Shin Ha-kyun, Baek Yoon-sik, Hwang Jeong-min, Lee Jae-yong, Lee Joo-hyun, Ki Joo-bong
- Genre Comedy, Drama, Science Fiction
- Available on Kanopy
Dev.D
(देव .डी)
Get Ready for Emotional Atyachar
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- India • 2009
- Director Anurag Kashyap
- Cast Abhay Deol, Mahie Gill, Kalki Koechlin, Parakh Madan, Kuldeep Singh, Gurkirtan
- Genre Comedy, Drama, Romance
- Available on Netflix, Netflix basic with Ads
Royal Space Force - The Wings Of Honneamise
(王立宇宙軍 オネアミスの翼)
On a future Earth, a small group seeks to propel mankind into space in order to escape Armageddon.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 1987
- Director Hiroyuki Yamaga
- Cast Leo Morimoto, Mitsuki Yayoi, Aya Murata, Kazuyuki Sogabe, Masato Hirano, Masahiro Anzai
- Genre Animation, Science Fiction
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Thirst
(박쥐)
A priest finds himself torn between faith and bloodlust.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Korea, United States • 2009
- Director Park Chan-wook
- Cast Song Kang-ho, Kim Ok-bin, Kim Hae-sook, Shin Ha-kyun, Song Young-chang, Mercedes Cabral
- Genre Drama, Horror, Thriller
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube
Bullet Ballet
(バレット・バレエ)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 1999
- Director Shinya Tsukamoto
- Cast Shinya Tsukamoto, Kirina Mano, Tatsuya Nakamura, Takahiro Murase, Kyoka Suzuki, Hisashi Igawa
- Genre Drama, Thriller, Crime
- Available on ARROW, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Amazon Video, YouTube
Micmacs
(Micmacs à tire-larigot)
A group of outcasts plans to exact revenge on weapons manufacturers.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 2009
- Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet
- Cast Dany Boon, Dominique Pinon, André Dussollier, Jean-Pierre Marielle, Julie Ferrier, Yolande Moreau
- Genre Action, Comedy, Crime
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube
Three… Extremes
(쓰리, 몬스터)
An anthology of nightmare films from three different East Asian horror masters.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Hong Kong, Japan, Korea • 2004
- Director Park Chan-wook, Takashi Miike, Fruit Chan
- Cast Kyoko Hasegawa, Atsuro Watabe, Mai Suzuki, Yuu Suzuki, Mitsuru Akaboshi, Bai Ling
- Genre Horror
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube, Tubi TV, VUDU Free, Freevee, Plex, Plex Channel
Undertow
(Contracorriente)
A married fisherman struggles to reconcile his devotion to his male lover within his town's rigid traditions.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Peru, Colombia, France • 2009
- Director Javier Fuentes-León
- Cast Cristian Mercado, Manolo Cardona, Tatiana Astengo, José Chacaltana, Attilia Boschetti, María Edelmira Palomino
- Genre Drama, Romance
- Available on Apple TV, Fandango At Home, The Roku Channel, Plex, Plex Channel
Dhobi Ghat
The lives of four people from different castes become intertwined in this emotional drama.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- India • 2010
- Director Kiran Rao
- Cast Aamir Khan, Prateik Babbar, Monica Dogra, Kriti Malhotra, Danish Husain, Kitu Gidwani
- Genre Drama
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Why
(Detenuto in attesa di giudizio)
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy • 1971
- Director Nanni Loy
- Cast Alberto Sordi, Elga Andersen, Andrea Aureli, Nazzareno Natale, Michele Gammino, Lino Banfi
- Genre Drama, Comedy
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Something Huge
(Algo muy gordo)
- ✭ ✭
- Spain • 2017
- Director Carlo Padial
- Cast Berto Romero, Carolina Bang, Carlos Areces, Javier Botet
- Genre Comedy
- Available on Netflix, Netflix basic with Ads
Well-made and engrossing but above all, stressful. I think I had my hand over my mouth for most of it. Park doesn’t coddle the viewer, instead leaving some things unsaid and others just unclear. Still, if you’re looking for a film that makes you feel something, this is the one — with the caveat that you probably won’t like what you feel.