3/4
I Saw the Devil is a extremely hard film to watch, but it portrays a powerful view of how men can easily fall in violence.


The movie begins where see a young pretty female gets brutally murdered. She is the fiancée of  Soo-hyun (Lee Byung-hun) a secret agent, from a request from her father he decides to hunt down the killer. After finding out who the killer is they go in to a cat and mouse game. Where they try to one up each other. Leading to a extremely violent showdown.

The movie is very hard to watch with it’s very detailed graphic violence. This is a good film to interpret the extremes level of violence in cinema. Is it really necessary to show all those violent acts on screen. While America releases violence and generic horror films, foreign films are being better and better. Korean cinema is booming. Oldboy, Man From Nowhere and many more. The violence in the film can be gut wrenching but in my opinion I think it was necessary for we can see the true versions of the characters. Violent acts that are necessary for the narrative then really to shock. Don’t me get wrong the violence in the film is too shock but it makes the characters human. It gives us a villain where true evil exists a man incapable of remorse not even in the face of death. Soo-hyun is a person we could relate too but can we really with the violent acts he has chosen to do. Even though secretly deep down we wish that to happen…

The acting is great but I do not want to spoil who the serial killer is if you haven’t seen the film. Lee Byung-hun is great here and hopefully he gets better roles here in the states. Other then G.I. Joe…The whole supporting class is great and if you’re a big fan of Korean cinema you’ll love this film.

Only problem I had with the film it gets repetitive with it’s violence. It goes a little bit too far instead of just wrapping up with it’s great ending. The film could sometimes loses it’s way due to trying to shock us with the violence.

I Saw the Devil is violent and might seem to be mean spirited but it’s a powerful psychological thriller of showing that a upstanding citizen could resort to violence.

3/4