Short Round: I Saw the Devil (2010) ****/*****

I normally don’t like these sort of torture porn/revenge films, and in some ways this movie is no exception, but it is so skillfully directed by Ji-woon Kim that I can’t ignore it’s beauty or effectiveness. The photography is great. That went a long way in keeping me watching. The main characters actually manage to develop and become interesting mirrors of one another by the end of the movie. The tension of the situation and your thirst to see the bad guy get his comeuppance get effectively built to a fever pitch, and then things get turned around on you when the revenge is so disgusting that you don’t want to see anymore of it. That’s some heady stuff. But, at the same time, most of what this movie has to offer is just bloody violence on top of disgusting torture. After a while, watching people get brutally mutilated just becomes numbing and boring. Usually I tune out of these sorts of movies completely, but I Saw the Devil managed to avoid that happening mostly, and I consequently hold it in pretty high regard; even if I don’t plan on ever watching it again.