Hum

Oldboy‘s been eyeing me, saying, “Rent me! Rent me!” And I’ve been responding, “I really want to, but you’re part of a trilogy, so I got to start from the beginning, and the first one’s been checked out.” Finally though, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance showed up at the local Blockbuster. I was a bit wary because it’s distributed by “Tartan Asia Extreme”, and I’ve heard just how extreme asian films can be, so it was not something I wanted to subject myself (if at all) without some mental preparation. I mean, Ichi the Killer (BBC link) or one of Miike’s other movies features a vagina cam (presumably for a rape scene). Come on, man.

Thankfully Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance isn’t that gratuitous. In fact, from the way the BBC article describes Ichi, Sympathy sounds like an episode of Winnie the Poo in comparison. There is some gore, though, like scalpel cuts, but I think the average male would be fine. Squeamish women may turn away. I’m guessing squeamish women would cry or walk out of Ichi.

Anyway I’m digressing. Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance was a pretty cool film. It has some nifty shots, the pacing is good, and the story itself is unique. There’s also some dark humor thrown in to keep things afloat, like the circle jerk in the neighbor’s apartment. Definitely a refreshing change from the Hollywood machine.

The movie is obviously about revenge, but the plot is layered. The film gives you different tiers of protagonists and antagonists, leaving you not really rooting for anyone. Very cool. I found it far more interesting than, say, Kill Bill Vol 1, which, for those who have been living in a cave, is also about revenge. Other than that commonality, they are pretty much completely different.

So now it’s onto Old Boy, a movie that Tarantino went gaga over.

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This entry was posted by Ron on Saturday, March 7th, 2009 at 1:59 pm and is filed under Moving Pictures, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.