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Movies / On DVD / Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance

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Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2005)

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Reviews Counted:53

Fresh:29

Rotten:24

Average Rating:6.1/10

Consensus: Though Park directs with stylistic flair, this revenge thriller is more excessively gruesome than thrilling.

Rated: R [See Full Rating] for strong gruesome violence, strong sexuality, language and drug use

Runtime: 2 hrs 9 mins

Genre: Foreign Films

Theatrical Release:Aug 19, 2005 Limited

Synopsis: RYU (SHIN Ha-kyun), a young factory worker, has recently quit art school in order to look after his sister, who is dying a slow, agonizing death for want of a kidney. When a doctor tells Ryu that... RYU (SHIN Ha-kyun), a young factory worker, has recently quit art school in order to look after his sister, who is dying a slow, agonizing death for want of a kidney. When a doctor tells Ryu that he is an unsuitable donor and that the chances of finding one is slim, Ryu turns to the black market. But the old lady who runs an underground organ ring cheats him, taking both his life savings and his kidney and leaving him without the kidney she promised in exchange. Ryu's girlfriend, a Raggedy-Ann leftist named YOUNGMIN (BAE Doona), urges Ryu to kidnap the four-year-old daughter of industrialist owner PARK DONG-JIN (SONG Kang-ho), who recently laid off Ryu and many other workers from his factory. Ryu agrees, but just as the plan is on the verge of success, Ryu's sister discovers what Ryu and Youngmin have been up to, and kills herself in despair. Compounding the tragedy, Ryu loses track of his little illicit charge during a visit to his childhood haunts, and she drowns in the river Ryu and his sister played in as kids. Dong-jin's deep grief quickly turns to rage and he embarks on an implacable quest for vengeance. At the same time, Ryu goes after the organ traders, knowing that if they had come through, none of the tragic occurrences would ever have happened. Bound by their common sense of loss and deep-seated anger, the two are on a collision course of revenge. --© Tartan Films [More]

Starring: Ha-kyun Shin, Kang-ho Song, Doo-na Bae

Starring: Ha-kyun Shin, Kang-ho Song, Doo-na Bae

Director: Chan Wook Park

Director: Chan Wook Park
Screenwriter: Chan Wook Park
Studio: Tartan Films

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Release:

Nov 22, 2005

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Reviews for Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance

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1 - 20 (sorted by fresh rating)
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It's a rough ride, but an exhilarating and strangely moral one all the same.

Full Review Source: E! Online | comment Comment
08/19/05
E! Online

Lucidly [explores] the grey-area complexities of guilt, morality, and the reactionary justifications that lead humane people to seek unspeakable retribution.

Full Review Source: Premiere Magazine | comment Comment
08/19/05
Aaron Hillis
Aaron Hillis
Premiere Magazine

Park forces us to consider a world where good intentions go awry, decent people do bad things, and fate deals cruel cards. But even at its darkest moments, Sympathy finds surprising and heartbreaking shreds of humanity.

Full Review Source: KPBS.org | comment Comment
04/19/07
Beth Accomando
Beth Accomando
KPBS.org

[Director] Park is the real deal...

Full Review Source: Now Playing Magazine | comment Comment
08/18/05
Brent Simon
Brent Simon
Now Playing Magazine

The best way to describe it is as the work of an artist -- director Chanwook Park -- who possesses both a conscience and a burning desire to use images to tell stories.

Full Review Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press | comment Comment
11/10/05
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
St. Paul Pioneer Press

SFMV is a cinematic tour de force, if an unrelentingly cruel one.

Full Review Source: CHUD | comment Comment
08/22/05
Devin Faraci
Devin Faraci
CHUD

Slow pace and the lack of clear definition between good and bad makes it a less immediate effort than Oldboy.

Full Review Source: ComingSoon.net | comment Comment
08/19/05
Edward Douglas
Edward Douglas
ComingSoon.net

It's more of a freak show -- although freak shows can be fun, too.

Full Review Source: EricDSnider.com | comment 1 Comment
06/08/06
Eric D. Snider
Eric D. Snider
EricDSnider.com

Park Chanwook's Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance accomplishes a miraculous feat by being harrowing and humane in equal measure.

Full Review Source: Village Voice | comment Comment
08/16/05
James Crawford
James Crawford
Village Voice

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.

Full Review Source: New York Daily News | comment Comment
08/19/05
Jami Bernard
Jami Bernard
New York Daily News
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Brutally nihilistic, this is one of the best Korean films to have hit these shores in a very long time.

Full Review Source: BBC | comment Comment
05/28/03
Jamie Russell
Jamie Russell
BBC

Executed with style and it sets up a situation that provides some food for thought.

Full Review Source: Window to the Movies | comment Comment
01/26/06
Jeffrey Chen
Jeffrey Chen
Window to the Movies

It's not a new idea, that violence destroys everyone, no matter the 'righteousness' of their cause. But it's one worth relearning.

Full Review Source: Jam! Movies | comment Comment
09/23/05
Jim Slotek
Jim Slotek
Jam! Movies

Almost every scene contains something surprising, even startling -- we feel as if Park is searching for a new way of seeing...

Full Review Source: Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) | comment Comment
10/07/05
John Beifuss
John Beifuss
Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)

Park is the most exciting filmmaker to burst into my conscience in the last few years.

Full Review Source: Planet Sick-Boy | comment Comment
08/19/05
Jon Popick
Jon Popick
Planet Sick-Boy

These are visions from among the dark recesses of the mind, shoved in our faces with ruthless imagination. Even beauty.

Full Review Source: Offoffoff | comment Comment
12/12/03
Joshua Tanzer
Joshua Tanzer
Offoffoff

Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance is a stylish bloodbath relieved by shafts of dark humor.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
08/18/05
Kevin Thomas
Kevin Thomas
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

hideously grim, and also oddly beautiful

Full Review Source: New Times | comment Comment
09/16/05
Luke Y. Thompson
Luke Y. Thompson
New Times

It's a hauntingly original film in which the seeds of Park's even more audacious Oldboy (2003) are clearly evident.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
08/19/05
Maitland McDonagh
Maitland McDonagh
TV Guide's Movie Guide

Fun, up to a point, but once it crosses its own internal Rubicon it becomes downright horrific, with blood and torture and the vertiginous sense of being unable to wake from a particularly arresting nightmare.

Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | comment Comment
09/24/05
Marc Savlov
Marc Savlov
Austin Chronicle
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by fresh rating)
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Latest News for Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance

May 15, 2009: Cannes 2009: The Tomato Report – Thirst’s Vampires Descend on the Croisette
Park Chan-wook is best known for his exceptional Vengeance Trilogy -- Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Oldboy and Lady Vengeance -- three blood-soaked, expertly drawn films that... More...

March 17, 2008: Charlize Theron Has Sympathy for Lady Vengeance
She'll spend the summer blending humor and superhero action with Will Smith and Jason Bateman in Hancock, but Charlize Theron already has Vengeance on her mind. More...

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