Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance (product link) Drama / Crime I read enough hysterically positive reviews for this film to really want to see it myself. After having done so, I must say that it is a good, solid piece of cinema, though--in my humble opinion--no masterpiece by any yardstick. The film is, no doubt, dark; but director Park Chan-Wook has shot it in bright, vivid colours to perhaps offset the bleakness of the theme. This certainly helps in making the film more palatable and thus more accessible to a greater audience. It's the tale of a crime gone wrong and the brutal revenge that follows. There is gore, but it is not as gruesome as many reviews would have you believe. Performances by all are very competent and the direction by Park is uncompromising. Basically this is recommended for film aficionados or those seeking an alternative to the mind-numbing mainstream movies that we all keep subjecting ourselves to ever so often.
Oldboy (product link) Thriller / Action/Adventure Park Chan-Wook does it again. After the gritty 'Sympathy for Mr.Vengeance', he has come up with (another) tale of revenge so nasty, it has to be seen to be believed! Oldboy is a film with a gripping storyline so expertly executed, it grabs you by the scruff of your neck and doesn't let go till the final credits begin to roll. It's not a film for the squeamish or for those looking for a couple of hours of escapism. For pure, unadulterated cinema, however, you could scarcely do better. Enough has been written about the plot for me to repeat it all over - the powerful tagline says it all -'15 years of imprisonment; 5 days of revenge!' Highly recommended!
Casshern (product link) Action/Adventure / Science Fiction The phrase 'all-style-no-substance' was probably invented for this film. A muddled 'would-be' epic, it tells the story of a future war between humans and mutant-clones who call themselves neo-sapiens. The action set-pieces, though reasonably impressive, are few and much of the running time is taken up by interminably long (and boring) sequences with nothing much happening. There's an attempt at some political intrigue and the backstory of the birth of the neo-sapiens seeks to unsuccessfully add some substance to all the glitz. A thin story such as this should not have taken more than an hour to narrate; instead it takes over two to do so. It's a great film for a 5 minute home-theatre demo though!
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I totally agree. This movie is perhaps the worst piece of crap I have ever subjected myself to, ever.
Sympathy For Lady Vengeance (product link) Thriller / Crime After the first two films of the trilogy, I was expecting a whopper. Alas! SFLV is a straight-forward revenge story with none of the trademark flair or chutzpah displayed by director Park Chan-Wook in the earlier films. It's all quite dull and predictable, and I would advise staying away if you are in the mood for watching something intelligent with twists and turns. As a stand-alone film, it's not really a disaster, but suffers due to the inevitable comparison with its more illustrious predecessors.
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