I saw the Devil review

 Number 462 on the top 1000 films of all time is the Korean action-thriller 'I saw the Devil.'

Kim Soo-Hyun  (Lee Byung-Hun) is an NIS agent whose fiancee Joo-yun is brutally murdered. Soo-hyun swears revenge on her murderer - the sadistic Jang Kyung-Chul (Choi Min-Sik.)

I've seen quite a few Korean films since starting this list and I think it's fair to say that Korea is the America of the Asian film world. Nothing is done by half-measure. Everything is over-the-top and ridiculous. There is no subtlety. Just larger-than-life plots and daft plot developments.

This was certainly true for I saw the Devil which was a textbook example of horrible people being horrible to each other in particularly horrible ways. There was a lot of violence and most of it was completely gratuitous. I Saw the Devil was a film that could have left a lot more up to the imagination. It was a difficult watch.

Perhaps that's because we didn't really have a main character to root for. Soo-Hyun is supposed to be the antihero type, but his dogged determination to sadistically torture Kyung-Chul blurred the line between anti-hero and villain, but more in favour of the villain. Sure Kyung-Chul was a despicable killer, but Soo-Hyun was supposed to be better than him. He isn't though, least of all, because of his silly decisions to catch him, torture him, set him free and then repeat this process over and over again. This is all well and good, but it allows Kyung-Chul to kill more innocent people - he almost rapes and murders a schoolgirl.

I know revenge is a dish best served cold, but this seemed beyond stupid. Not to mention dangerous to Soo-Hyun and his family. Surely he would know by repeatedly catching and setting Kyung-Chul free, he is putting their lives at risk?

Spoilers

Speaking of loved ones, the film concludes with Soo-Hyun manufacturing a reunion between Kyung-Chul and his estranged parents and son, only to have him killed right in front of them. Yes, Kyung-Chul was a vicious killer, but what did his family do to deserve seeing something so traumatic? It was stupid and unnecessarily cruel.

Lee Byung-Hun is best known to international audiences as the Front Man in the hit series Squid Game. And Choi Min-Sik has also starred in the famous Vengeance trilogy. Both of them are great actors in their own ways, but here their characters were little more than soulless, emotionless monsters. They didn't get the chance to really show their acting chops.

I really didn't care for I saw the Devil. It was complete nonsense and unbelievably over-the-top. Not even the considerable acting talents of Choi Min-Sik and Lee Byung-Hun could save it.