Sympathy For Mr Vengeance

By Mal -

7 out of 10

Completing my viewing of Park Chan-Wook's vengeance trilogy, Mr Vengeance is probably the simplest, plot-wise, of the three films. A young man struggling to find — and pay for — a kidney for his dying sister goes to unwise lengths to help her. Initially duped into swapping one of his own kidneys plus cash for a compatible donor kidney (which nevers turns up), he then resorts to kidnapping to raise the cash for a legit transplant. At which point, it all starts going seriously pear-shaped.

Despite the film's title, there are actually multiple vengeances being sought here. And you can sympathise with all of them. The film remains entertaining and gripping throughout, but its relative simplicity felt like a slight let-down after seeing Oldboy and Lady Vengeance. Or maybe I was just up to speed quicker with this one.

Anyway, as this rounds out my viewing of the vengeance trilogy, I feel I can now say it's a seriously good set of films. Granted, each is unrelated except by the theme of revenge, but they stand very well together. Highly recommended viewing. (And thanks to Colin for getting me into them!)

Comments

Colin said…
Glad you enjoyed them... even if it did take a second sitting of Lady Vengence!
I'm always nervous recommending stuff to you. :)
8:13 pm
Mal said…
Got anything else you can recommend and/or lend? You mentioned Ong Bak the other day. Not seen that one...
12:54 pm
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