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To me, this movie is perfection.

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Often referred to as the first movie in the revenge trilogy, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (hereafter SMV) is director Park's first attempt at examining revenge as a motif. The film does not address the moral, psychological, and social complexities of revenge and struggles of the characters involved. Those emerge in his later films. The principle of revenge in SMV might be aptly characterized as lex talionis, an eye for an eye, tooth for tooth. That's what the movie is about: pure, unadulterated revenge for an injustice done. Even cannibalism finds its way into the narrative as an act of vengeance. For fans who have enjoyed other revenge-oriented films such as Kill Bill, SMV's treatment of revenge is simply delicious. The injustice that starts the revenge cycle is both natural and man-made: The primary character's (Ryu) sister needs a kidney transplant, and he needs to come up with $10,000. He decides to sell his kidney, only to be duped by con artists: they steal his kidney, and he loses the money for his sister's operation. Ryu wants revenge; his sister realizes her role in the sequence of events and exacts revenge (of sorts); Boss Park avenges his daughter who accidentally dies during the kidnapping-for-ransom process; Cha Young-Mi's colleagues exact revenge upon Boss Park. The wheels of revenge turn round and round with the aforementioned characters.The fates of the characters involved in the story are implicitly connoted in the first twelve minutes of the film, when Cha Young-Mi writes a judgment pronouncement against the person who has yet to harm her; the primary character (Ryu) unwittingly encounters his swindlers while he is in a most vulnerable and defenseless state, literally holding his manhood in his hand. Boss Park's former employee demands his job back for years of faithful service. Boss Park's hand is slashed as a sign of things to come.Director Park's use of sound is particularly acute in the film. The characters, both primary and secondary, learn about the lives of others through background noise that is brought into the foreground. This audio technique creates a sense of anxiety and uneasiness about the peace and tranquility of a scene; that is, the background noise that is brought into the foreground creates anticipation in the viewer; the viewer knows something is about to happen, will happen, but is left unsure. For example, Ryu successfully returns with the money in hand; the scene is a happy one; he is playful; the kidnapping victim is happy. Yet, the pervasive sound of water running over a basin reverberates across the ears of the viewer. In another, viewers are treated to a comical sight of a communal masturbation session, only to reveal that the sound of their whack ammunition are not what they appear to be. Boss Park learns about Ryu through the hollow walls of Ryu's apartment. One relationship that has not been fully explored is an intrafamilial one: that between Ryu and his sister. Although the film shows them sleeping on the same floor, this is not necessarily indicative of any sexual interest. Sleeping in the same room, under the same blanket is normative practice for those who are poor. However, there are other moments when the director wants us to think otherwise. Although Ryu can't hear his upstairs neighbors having sex, his sister can: she can't sleep. She can't sleep so Ruy can't sleep. When Ryu is giving his sister a sponge bath, the sister's playful laughter as Ryu approaches sensitive areas leads the viewer to at least entertain the idea of intrafamilial sexual relations. (Park's second movie perverts this notion to unimaginable depths.) In this vein, director Park's use of siblings and family members closely mirror's Kafka's novels where there is an ambiguous relationship between the male protagonist and his sister. Viewers are left to wonder. Viewers are not left to wonder about the primal and visceral nature of revenge in SMV.

I'm afraid that very few of my hip and flowery fellow reviewers would fall in line and agree with my assessment of 'Sympathy For Mr Vengeance', but I just don't feel right about this film...Yeah, Park is so courageous to bring such brutal frankness in such beautiful and inspirational film work, with such talented directorial technique, that he just must be a genius.But this is my review and assessment, and if my art-house loving colleagues don't agree, then I certainly support their right to disagree with me along with their right to view this kind of work the way they want.This is a film about average-Joe working-class Korean citizens running around carving each other up and spilling enough blood to make 'Goodfellas' look like a nursery rhyme. Even a supposedly legitimate government employee (I won't name the character) decided it was just a grand idea that a father grieving over the loss of his child should watch while the child was carved open and the internal organs removed.It would still be awful, but perhaps more expected if this type of horrific slaughter was committed by the Geondal, Jopok or any number of other notorious South Korean Mafioso; but if Park is expecting us to believe that these characters truly represent what the average Korean citizen is like under pressure or when faced with tragedy, then what if anything distinguishes South Korea from the culture we are told represents North Korea? I'm assuming that this director feels that life in SK isn't so different than what he is showing to the world, that these events couldn't possibly happen there... and among the common working people at that! Even though this is film, art or whatever other rosy name you want to refer to it as, I think it is meant to reflect a slice of life that is possible in any major SK city... and it begs the question; why are we still involving ourselves, at great cost in lives and dollars, in the politics and strife of cultures we don't truly understand?

Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance is fine piece of Korean cinema, it is a prime example of how great of a director Park Chan-Wook is. It features many great Korean actors such as Song Kang-Ho and Shin Ha-Kyun, who have appeared a lot through-out many great film by Park, amongst other great films.The atmosphere the character create, the acting, scenery and the dialogue create a very down-to-earth feeling. It shows several sides of people, it shows our happiness, our sorrows, hatred, depression, the feeling of loss and anger. The film was very good at making me sympathize with all the character, even though Ryu was in fact responsible for a death through a kidnapping, I only realized that I should have sympathized more with the character Park. However, everyone suffered, everyone lost what they had, everyone lost someone they loved, and everyone eventually dies in the end. That is what I love about this film the most - everyone feel pleasure at some point, but we all suffer and die. What I particularly "like" is how it managed to show how horrible it can be to be deaf-dumb, when he was eating noodles and she was dying, when he was burying his sister as the girl was drowning - these were all great at showing just how hard it can be. - and best of all, his crying when his sister commits suicide - it is the most genuine cry you can have, he can not hear it, so he weeps as genuinely as one can.There's a lot of cozy stuff too that make me happy, how nicely they fit together, their conversations. This film is a master piece.

"Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance" is the first installment in what is one of the bloodiest cinematic trilogies ever embarked upon. A stylish blend of surreal imagery intertwined with pitch-black humor, and stomach-turning violence. As a director, Chan-wook Park possesses a remarkable eye for detail and framing, and he is simply unrivaled in his approach to modern Asian filmmaking. The films intricate plot appears fairly straightforward at first, but slowly, deliberately moves into uncharted waters. A deaf mute named Ryu (Shin Ha-kyun) devises a kidnapping plot to pay for a kidney transplant for his dying sister that spins out of control into a bloody cycle of retribution. Ryu's scheme quickly, hideously backfires, making him one of two Mr. Vengeances in the film, both of whom are murderously intent on returning to a former state of grace that is no longer reachable. "Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance" relies heavily on its elaborate plot, which, when all else is stripped away, is really only a tale of family and the lengths people will go - of the depths they will fall to - to protect their own. Failing protection, vengeance rules the day and so Park's film descends, with its own stately grace, down the bloodied slope of life into the lowest reaches of humanity. The film is superbly made on all fronts, despite the morality issues and graphic violence. Once it crosses its own internal Rubicon, it becomes downright horrific, never allowing you to wake from a particularly arresting nightmare. Followed by "Oldboy" (2003) and "Lady Vengeance" (2005).