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.
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2005)
Tomatometer
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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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Reviews for Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance
Even more brutal than Oldboy, but sadly less focused and with less intrigue
Park's deliberate direction is full of serene scenes and lovely images for a film so full of violence and death...
Almost every scene contains something surprising, even startling -- we feel as if Park is searching for a new way of seeing...
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.
Slowly degenerates into a gory revenge thriller that is never thrilling, but is often boring and frequently repulsive.
Park pays most of his attention to visceral style, but he sketches in enough about his characters to make them frighteningly relatable.
Executed with style and it sets up a situation that provides some food for thought.
Park Chanwook's Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance accomplishes a miraculous feat by being harrowing and humane in equal measure.
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.
The movie begins as a tragic tale of sacrifice and love... intense and understandably moving. It gets a little less interesting when it turns into a gore-fest.
Slow pace and the lack of clear definition between good and bad makes it a less immediate effort than Oldboy.
Confirms Park's mastery of a niche style of cinema that is glossy, morbid and childishly provocative.
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance is so badly told that it ends up dissecting a corruption that exudes from nowhere but itself.
A daisy wheel of revenge-fueled gore speciously intercut with delusions of social commentary.
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.
Lucidly [explores] the grey-area complexities of guilt, morality, and the reactionary justifications that lead humane people to seek unspeakable retribution.
It is a worthy start to a trilogy and to a director who is fast establishing himself as a new light in Asian cinema.
Two hours that didn’t entertain much, thrill much or do much of anything…much.
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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