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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.
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... [More]
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Reviews for Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance
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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 |
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Confirms Park's mastery of a niche style of cinema that is glossy, morbid and childishly provocative. Full Review |
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C |
Slightly more enjoyable than getting a kidney transplant. Full Review |
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B |
It's more of a freak show -- although freak shows can be fun, too. Full Review |
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7/10 |
Executed with style and it sets up a situation that provides some food for thought. Full Review |
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2.5/5 |
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3.5/4 |
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 |
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C+ |
A stylish exercise with some agreeably weird touches, but as a whole it substitutes atmosphere for coherence or credibility. Full Review |
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3/4 |
Park prizes craftsmanship over bargain-bin schlock. It's an odd testament to his spiritedness that, despite the coldblooded killing and trail of the dead, Mr. Vengeance feels warmly suffused with life. Full Review |
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'3.5/4' |
Almost every scene contains something surprising, even startling -- we feel as if Park is searching for a new way of seeing... Full Review |
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3/5 |
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. Full Review |
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3.5/5 |
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 |
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2.5/4 |
It is a worthy start to a trilogy and to a director who is fast establishing himself as a new light in Asian cinema. Full Review |
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3.5/4 |
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 |
CommentLatest 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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