Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002)
In Seoul, the deaf and dumb worker Ryu is very attached to his sister, who needs a transplantation of kidney. He tries to donate his own kidney to his sister, but his blood B type is not compatible with her. When Ryu is fired from Ilshin Electronics, he meets illegal dealers of organs and the criminals propose Ryu's kidney plus ten millions Won per a kidney suitable for his sister. Ryu accepts the trade, but he does not have money to pay for the surgery... (imdb)
Cast and Information
Directed By: Chan-wook Park
Written By: Chan-wook Park, Mu-yeong Lee, Jae-sun Lee
Starring: Kang-ho Song, Jae-yeong Jeong, Ju-bong Gi, Doona Bae, Ha-kyun Shin, Lee Kan-Hee, Gyu-su Jeong, Dae-yeon Lee, Se-dong Kim, Masashi Fujimoto, Ji-Eun Lim, Bo-bae Han
Genres: Drama, Suspense/Thriller, Crime, Action
Franchise: The Vengeance Trilogy
AKA: Boksuneun naui geot
Country: South Korea
Where to Stream
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Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance belongs to 43 collections
1. boobs (collaborative: moderated by Pickpocket - 51 stars)
2. Netflix Instant (collaborative: moderated by somnivore - 29 stars)
3. Edgar Wright 1000 Favorite Movies (Aug 2016) (collaborative: moderated by Aron Ericson - 17 stars)
4. Vigilante / Revenge (collaborative: moderated by td888 - 14 stars)
5. Films available in HD (collaborative: moderated by kubricksucks - 13 stars)
6. Mind-rape (collaborative: moderated by td888 - 11 stars)
7. Disgusting and Disturbing (collaborative: moderated by myminorplace - 7 stars)
8. Top 3000 movies with the most votes on IMDb (public: fanfic - 5 stars)
9. Korean Movies (collaborative: moderated by manbeer - 3 stars)
10. Mute (collaborative: moderated by mpowell - 2 stars)
11. The Vengeance Trilogy (collaborative: moderated by whatismyname - 2 stars)
12. Character name in title (collaborative: moderated by Pickpocket - 2 stars)
13. Solo Genital Stimulation (Male) (collaborative - 2 stars)
14. mwgerb's Netflix Instant Queue (public: mwgerb - 2 stars)
15. Foreign - Korean (public: NhanLa - 2 stars)
16. Deafness (collaborative: moderated by djross - 1 star)
17. 100 Greatest Korean Films Ever by Korean Screen (collaborative: moderated by Equanimity - 1 star)
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Browse the full list of collections
| Stars | User | Rating | |
| 3 |  |
TheDenizen | 100 99th |
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One of the most beautiful and brutal movies I've ever seen, this flick made me feel like I'd had my chest kicked in. Song Kang-ho is fucking incredible. The best of the Vengeance trilogy. #6 in my all time top 10.
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| 3 |  |
td888 | 70 76th |
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Just realised that Chan-wook Park is the Korean version of Herzog. Park has got the same eye of detail for capturing beauty and the dramatic decisions people have to take. Although Herzog generally goes for the positive aspect of his subject matter, Park shows the complete opposite. But both have the same mesmerizing power to transform their ideas to the big screen. I guess they are the Yin en Yang of dramatic cinema. Before I forget; a trivia question: anybody notice the jacket with O's eleven?
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| 2 |  |
Shmendrek | 4 83rd |
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The best entry in Park's "Vengeance Trilogy."
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| 2 |  |
e_e | 95 97th |
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The twisted beatuy of dispair and human brutality. The number one reason to watch it: Kang-Ho Song. Try to watch the autopsy scene without shivering.
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| 2 |  |
mavrodief | 88 99th |
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A stunning movie. Truly modern masterpiece. Park is possibly the greatest filmmaker of these days
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| 2 |  |
afx237vi | 70 69th |
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It wasn't until the very end that I began to appreciate the themes of this film. The futility of vengeance, the random senselessness of life and the ever-continuing cycle of violence that you can do nothing about. It reminded me of No Country For Old Men, and the earlier parts of the film also contained a very dark humour reminiscent of Fargo. So fans of the Coen Brothers may like this. However, it is quite hard to follow in places and the narrative is kinda jumpy. It's very good, but has flaws.
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| 1 |  |
Moribunny | 40 27th |
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Not that any woeful reaction shots are missing here, but still the film seems rather emotionally void as it predictably follows its precious cycle of vengeance. Stylish violence too detatched and uninvolved to make you care.
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| 1 |  |
Kavu | 73 53rd |
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The extremely slow pacing isn't quite compensated by the great plot and beautiful cinematography.
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| 1 |  |
Pickpocket | 7 68th |
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It takes the entire film to really appreciate what you are watching. In other words, the beginning is excruciatingly slow. Has a lot amazing moments and others that are so bizarre that I wonder why they are in the film. Also features the best bat beat down since De Niro did it in The Untouchables. Cinematography is great and the acting is excellent as well. If the pacing was fixed this would be a near perfect film but I can't forgive the first 30 or so minutes of boredom.
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| 1 |  |
Derekstar | 60 36th |
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This took me 4 sittings to get through. Part of that may be my fault, but it may also be because this movie is extremely slow and extremely depressing. But, I must say the movie is also very interesting, visually. Perhaps worth seeing for that alone. Apart from that, I found the jump cuts pretty frustrating. Some people may enjoy the suspense of not knowing what's going on, but I found it aggravating going into scene after scene not knowing what anyone was doing or why they were doing it.
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| 1 |  |
PeaceAnarchy | 91 95th |
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Great movie about the destructive nature of revenge. A couple of plot points stretch believability but the film works so well that they don't really hinder the message. The good acting and direction also help in this regard.
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| 1 |  |
Farzan | 70 59th |
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Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance is not nearly as good as i thought it would be. It has a decent story and some fantastic acting, but everything in this film is largely outshined in Oldboy. Kang-ho Song is incredible in this as well as Ha-kyun Shin. Both of their characters were really well developed and their emotions were put to screen in an amazing way. But thats all that this film really gave me. I wanted to like it more but It just didn't cut it.
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| 1 |  |
amerigo | 92 97th |
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All the people who lambaste this film for "believability" are missing the point. This film is first and foremost a piece of top-notch absurdism. This is exactly how you deglamorize all the violence that Hollywood has contrived into a hyper-real fairy tale. A complete masterpiece.
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| 1 |  |
sebby | 65 58th |
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I'm going to be another asshole that says "it's not as good as Oldboy." The pacing is a little too slow and the tone a bit dramatic. The cinematography and acting are wonderful, however, and the story is intriguing enough to keep you interested.
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| 1 | DVicknabb | 85 56th |
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Gratuitous content competes with a compelling narrative. The narrative wins, but it's not nearly as entertaining as Oldboy or as smart as Lady Vengeance.
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| 1 |  |
BillyShears | 80 77th |
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Everything in this looks grimy but its shot so well! There's this shot of 4 teen boys listening in on what they assume is sex and they're frantically jerking off with each other - lol just like the Beatles.
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| 1 |  |
Barthalen | 82 86th |
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Deliciously dark. If you enjoy the lives of decent people going down the toilet through no fault of their own, you'll love this. Great acting from everyone as well.
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| 1 |  |
Luna6ix | 76 57th |
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some fantastic cinematography in the beginning, and a good story. but about midway through it peters out into something that is hard to follow and boring. it moves at a very deliberate pace but doesn't give the audience enough to keep the attention.
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| 1 |  |
Vandelay1 | 94 99th |
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Very Great, better as Lady Vengeance and Old Boy
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| 1 |  |
NathanDarko | 80 52nd |
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The weakest of Park's Vengeance Trilogy... Old Boy is a Master Piece, Lady Vengeance is almost great...but this Movie didn't grabed me at all.However not as bad as today's Hollywood Crap...and even better than many other Action Movies.
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| 1 |  |
moraesfelipe | 75 80th |
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Capitalism eats itself -- the worker goes after his ex-boss, his ex-boss goes after him and his sister, an anti-capitalist terrorist group led by the sister goes after the entrepreneur. Chan-wook's suspense comes with a series of detailed shots followed by unexpected cuts. While it looks visually absorbing and crude, the typical revenge-thriller sense of catharsis seems toned down to endorse a pessimism that was already brought to us in the first (and massive) shots of the industrial world.
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| 1 |  |
Zozan | 1 0th |
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Seemed to be an interesting movie but it is so slow that I couldn't motivate myself to bear till end.
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| 1 |  |
Judge Holden | 4 51st |
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Park's vengeance movies are entertaining but ultimately complete nonsense. This one has the added bonus of featuring some inconceivably obnoxious characters and excessively high levels of whimsy.
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| 1 |  |
Cinema_Asia | 85 92nd |
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This is a thoroughly wicked movie that is difficult to watch at times. There is no real predictable turn of events and definitely no Hollywood ending here. Chan-Wook Park takes the audience on a ride through vengeance and forces us to watch at what it all entails. This is truly a masterpiece and if you watch some of the grotesque humanity at play in the evening news the movie isn't all that unbelievable either.. which is the sad part.
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| 1 |  |
Akariking93 | 95 92nd |
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The best way to describe this film is calling it a slow burn. The drama builds, the tension rises in one of the most intense games of cat and mouse ever depicted in film plays out. A cruel and twisted tale of vengeance and the consequences of taking such actions. The ending is what sealed this for me. The brilliance of the film is that all characters have motive for the acts they commit, leaving zero absolutes. No good, no evil. Just a cause and effect situation and it's told brilliantly.
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| 1 |  |
Ceekay19 | 60 28th |
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Park Dong-jin: "I know you're a good guy... but you know why I have to kill you..."
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| Average Percentile 64.46% from 2622 Ratings |  |