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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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21 - 40 (sorted by date)
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While there's no denying that Park has strong visual skills, his content so far is in appalling bad taste.

Full Review Source: Deseret News, Salt Lake City | comment Comment
09/23/05
Jeff Vice
Jeff Vice
Deseret News, Salt Lake City

There's powerful drama in watching Ryu and Dong-Jin take their inevitable paths toward destruction, but not enough to mitigate the stomach-turning luridness along those paths.

Full Review Source: Salt Lake Tribune | comment Comment
09/23/05
Sean Means
Sean Means
Salt Lake Tribune

Park's juvenile obsession with blatant gross-outs belies his many talents.

Full Review Source: Arizona Daily Star | comment Comment
09/22/05
Phil Villarreal
Phil Villarreal
Arizona Daily Star

hideously grim, and also oddly beautiful

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

Promises to be a stylish, resonant plunge into the dark waters of despair and revenge but ends up amusing itself with ostentatious shocks.

Full Review Source: Seattle Times | comment Comment
09/09/05
Tom Keogh
Tom Keogh
Seattle Times

Park's deliberate direction is full of serene scenes and lovely images for a film so full of violence and death...

Full Review Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer | comment Comment
09/09/05
Sean Axmaker
Sean Axmaker
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

It's all a little ultra-cool for me. Shakespeare was right. Revenge is a dish best served ice-cold, not cool.

Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune | comment Comment
09/08/05
Michael Phillips
Michael Phillips
Chicago Tribune
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Park's worldview is grotty to such extremes that it becomes hard to recommend [this] in good conscience, no matter how virtuosic the delivery.

Full Review Source: The Stranger (Seattle, WA) | comment Comment
09/08/05
Andrew Wright
Andrew Wright
The Stranger (Seattle, WA)

Even more brutal than Oldboy, but sadly less focused and with less intrigue

Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
08/29/05
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

Park pays most of his attention to visceral style, but he sketches in enough about his characters to make them frighteningly relatable.

Full Review Source: Groucho Reviews | comment Comment
08/28/05
Peter Canavese
Peter Canavese
Groucho Reviews

So bloody, scatologically violent and consistently shocking, it seems to have no larger purpose than itself -- which is pretty grim.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment Comment
08/26/05
G. Allen Johnson
G. Allen Johnson
San Francisco Chronicle

Two hours that didn’t entertain much, thrill much or do much of anything…much.

Full Review Source: JoBlo's Movie Emporium | comment Comment
08/26/05
JoBlo
JoBlo
JoBlo's Movie Emporium

Somehow you'd be more won over by his anti-revenge case if he didn't seem to be having such a good time making it.

Full Review Source: Newsday | comment Comment
08/25/05
Gene Seymour
Gene Seymour
Newsday
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

This ultra-violent revenge thriller is far more notable for its baroque excesses than coherence or credibility.

Full Review Source: Hollywood Reporter | comment Comment
08/23/05
Frank Scheck
Frank Scheck
Hollywood Reporter

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

An intense, viscerally charged thriller that stays with you.

Full Review Source: Reel.com | comment Comment
08/20/05
Timothy Knight
Timothy Knight
Reel.com

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 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

You'll likely be repulsed by much of Park's vision, but, as somebody once said: no pain, no gain.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
08/19/05
V.A. Musetto
V.A. Musetto
New York Post

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
 
 
21 - 40 (sorted by date)
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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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