Lady Vengeance
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Movie Reviews of Lady Vengeance
Movie Review: A great movie that hopefully doesn't get ignored
Summary: 5 Stars
Oldboy, while admittedly a great movie, became a lightning rod for "overrated" reviews when everybody started to pay attention to it. It happens all the time from popular TV shows(Lost) to music(Nirvana), there's always something that people just don't get simply because the expectations went higher than the actual film can pull off. So how do you follow it then? Easy. You do another one that can be judged on its own merits. And so we have Lady Vengeance, Chan-Wook Park's concluding film in his Vengeance trilogy. While it doesn't top Oldboy, it's still a great film that hopefully gets attention.
Geum-Ja Lee was 19 when she was incarcerated for the murder of a 5 year old boy. Released 14 years later, she has her mind set on revenge. Utilizing some help from fellow prison inmates she befriended, she finds the real culprit: Mr. Baek, a schoolteacher who has some disturbing videos. Doesn't help that Geum-Ja Lee has a daughter and she has some religious implications to what she does.
In watching Lady Vengeance, I never really got the feeling that I was seeing Oldboy part II. While the plot is slightly similar, I never got the feeling that there was a shameless attempt to copy that previous film since it had been so successful. In fact that's what makes the trilogy successful is that each film has unique ideas and its own niche while still carrying the same mood and approach as the others. If there is one thing the film doesn't have is certain moments like Oldboy's 3 minute fight scene or Oh Dae Su eating a live octopus or its controversial twist reveal but on a whole Lady Vengeance is a great watch.
Much of what makes the film great to watch rests with Yeong-ae Lee, who shows a bit more of a tortured side than Min-sik Choi did, who was more manic and intense. Speaking of which, he also appears as Mr Baek who carries an atypical calm about him and even manages to somehow look sympathetic, even when his crimes are revealed. The rest of the cast is pretty solid as well although one character has one of those Adam's apples you just end up staring at. Not an acting thing, but boy did it bug me.
First, is it a violent film? Oddly enough, not really. Sure it does have its moments, including an offscreen shooting of a puppy and feet and a face, but most of it is either implied or shown offscreen. It is however a gorgeously shot film and the final scene and its location are very memorable. It's also got some little surreal moments such as a translated speech she gives which has some odd backgrounds and an image overlap. It's not camera trickery just for the hell of it and it helps the film have a unique look.
If you loved Oldboy, or Mr Vengeance or just looking for a good drama, you can't go wrong here.
Movie Review: A gun, a sin, and the things that were untold that get told again.
Summary: 5 Stars
While sometimes called the weakest of the three revenge tales, Lady v. is a great stand-alone film and the comparions here is an unfair one. Trying to take Old Boy and Sympathy for Mr. V. and group the three does make the tale weaker in ways, but the tale also has its strong points and is a different tale altogether. It deals with threats and missing children, and with a woman that networked while behind bars in order to become the thing she needed to be. While behind bars she was a model of transformation, becoming everything that was asked of her. She also made friends by taking up for the weak and the needy, doing some fairly terrible things in order to seutre friendships. and, when she found herself released, she called upon these people because she needed something. She needed something she designed in jail, and way to make herself untouchable after her plan went into effect, and other things that were unexpected from such a great person.
The mask must have been heavy, I kept thinking, and the years must have been long. In some ways that made me pity the person that she was thinking about taking her frustrations out on.
As far as the movie goes, the script was great, the twists were superb, and the end was one that I really didn't see coming. The counterpart to our Lady was equally well-acted, as were the people that we ran across during our tale. Considering the reviews i saw in the newspapaer this surprised me, but more surprising was the way the story was touching and made you side with Lady V. The staging of all the horrible things that the movie provies are equally as good, and - taken by itself - it is a great watch. In fact, it could be argued that this movie spoke in a different tone than the other movies spoke in, and this was why some people different understand that it was a different taste altogether.
If you liked the two other movies, check this out and make sure not to copmpare these. See it as stand-alone and compare it to itself, and you'll see something that it transfixing and beautifully done. I say this because i started out doing exactly what I am saying not to do, and I think I missed out on the stand-alone portion of the movie because of that. Even if you did not like the other movies for some reason, you might find this to your liking. It has violence and it has blood, but the horrors seen here are not as gruesome as some of the things I saw before. Instead of being a machine, our lead was a widow waiting in the web, and all the little fibers are beautiful to see as they are spun.
I really recommend the movie - it isn't a third movie but is instead a thing unto itself. Well worth seeing.
Movie Review: Lady Vengeance Review
Summary: 5 Stars
Synopsis
The director is Park Chan-wook and he doesn't disappoint. A woman is falsely accused of murdering a boy. She spends several years in jail planning the perfect plan to murder the man that blackmailed her. Now that she's out she's out for vengeance and with the help from her friends that she made in prison she WILL carry it out.
Plot Rating
I've seen revenge movies and they've been good but there was something about this movie. For me it was probably her trying to reconnect with her daughter and her attitude at getting what she wants. There's always something about a double barreled gun that needs to be used at close range that lights up my crotch. I like the flashbacks that they did to show how she was before she got out of jail and the connections she's made in order to get to blackmailer. I give the plot a 9 out of 10.
Actors/Actresses
I'm only going to focus on one person because the movie is mainly about her. Yeong-ae Lee plays Geum-ja Lee and she carries the movie. We see her as a hurt, vengeful woman who will stop at nothing to kill the person who sent her to jail. There are also flashbacks of a sweet, kind, nice woman who is friends to all. We also have a woman who is trying to reconnect with the daughter she lost so many years ago. All of these roles are played very well and incorporated into the story at the right moment.I give the acting a 10/10
DVD Extras
The DVD comes to us from Tartan Video and the extras are very enjoyable. We've got an interview with the director. "The making of Lady Vengeance." A commentary by the director, art director, and cinematographer. A commentary by Richard Pena and international and U.S trailer. So in all, we have a a lot of stuff to watch and keep us entertained. I give the extras a 10/10
Personal Thoughts
Lady vengeance is one of those movies that you can watch again and again. The story is great for a revenge movie and the ending is interesting. Something that I didn't expect but oh so very nice. The relationship that Geum-ja Lee forms with her daughter is touching and you can see that she tries to be a good mother. The relationships that she forms are interesting and play a key role in her getting her man.
This movie is top class and one of Park Chan-wooks finest. That's why this movie gets a 29/30. I recommend this movie to everyone.
Movie Review: Completing a Trilogy...
Summary: 5 Stars
Park Chanwook proved genius with Oldboy. His master-film-work and slow, suspenseful storytelling methods drove the viewers of that film to the brink, all the way up to the terrible twist of an ending. Before that, we had Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, as gritty a revenge flick as there is outside of Deathwish. And now, we have Lady Vengeance....
Before I parade off on the glorifications of this film, I will simply say that this isn't what one would expect from a revenge film. There are no killing sprees, no thug-like menaces that suddenly pop up to show us what our hero is capable of. Lady Vengeance just has one angry woman who wants to get her revenge on the man who ruined her life. Sure, she does have to do a bit of searching and a bit of protecting herself--those are needed plot elements in any revenge film--but more or less the movie was something akin to the mystical journey plot archetype. It even has a theme!!!
That's not to say you can't associate Lady Vengeance with the other two films in the Revenge Trilogy. Lady Vengeance has just as many memorable moments as the first two. Without spoiling much, I will say that the ending was possibly the best in all of the revenge films. It's a little more subtle, and leaves room for a lot of reflection on the viewer's part (it even has a theme!!!). Besides that, there are a couple moments between the beginning and the middle that will leave you chuckling at the screen. That's another thing that separates Lady Vengeance from the other two; it doesn't take itself as seriously. It doesn't mind throwing in some comedy, even if it offsets the suspense of the revenge-flick-archetype.
Now, I won't go much into the story. Revealing too much can ruin the experience. Simply read the synopsis on the case and that's all you should need. This movie does a lot of speaking for itself. It needs to be seen to be believed, and preferably after you've already seen Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and Oldboy. By itself, Lady Vengeance is great, but as an epilogue to the Vengeance Trilogy, it proves that a) Park Chanwook is a director that should be followed, and b) these films truly are masterpieces of their genre.
Movie Review: pure, white tofu
Summary: 5 Stars
thirteen years ago a beautiful 19-year-old girl was put in prison for kidnapping and murdering a five-year-old boy. The Korean populace was shocked because of her gentle looks and meek demeanor. Her polka dot dress even became the fashion statement for the season.
Within prison walls the girl, Geum-ja, finds solace in Christianity and devotes herself to helping the other female inmates find peace and worth inside prison. However, is this demeanor truly Geum-ja? Apparently not.
After being released from prison, Geum-ja searches for the women she aided and asks them for their assistance in killing the man who made her confess that she killed the young boy. These include a hairdresser, arrested for prostitution, a silversmith, arrested for adultery, a welder and her husband, arrested for bank robbery, etc. By aiding them, these women are indebted to Geum-ja, who even killed for them, and cannot refuse her no matter how outlandish her request.
As the film progresses, Geum-ja makes her way closer and closer to achieving her goal. Along the way she makes a few new friends, but there is nothing that will prevent her from killing the man who destroyed her life thirteen years before, or is there? Although I am a major movie fan, there are few films that I truly get excited about seeing. However, Sympathy for Lady Vengeance is definitely an exception to this rule. After watching the bombastic visual experience that is Old Boy, and quieter, but chilling, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, I eagerly anticipated the film that would conclude Park Chan-wook's Revenge Trilogy. I must say that this film does not disappoint.
Like the previous two movies, there are some scenes in this movie that will truly jar the audience, however, while, in my opinion, Old Boy and Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance worked on a more visceral level, Sympathy for Lady Vengeance truly tears at the emotions. Mr. Baek's film collection is truly terrifying.
A beautiful dark movie tinged with humor, Sympathy for Lady Vengeance is not to be missed