I Saw the Devil is an exercise in insanity. When a man's wife is murdered by a serial killer, he sets out not to bring this murderer to justice but to exact his own form of revenge. What happens next is a brutal game of cat and mouse where the lines between good and bad are blurred and the viewer is treated to a roller coaster of emotions as the progression of events unfold.
This is one wild ride that will leave you breathless, sweaty and spent, in a heap with a cigarette dangling from your hand!
What's great about it: Excellent action, storyline, acting, etc.
What's not so great: No downside for me but it is sub-titled as it is from South Korea.
This film is one of the best films of 2009. It has a top-notch storyline from a well-known director, Chan-wook Park, with excellent acting from one of South Korea's best actors, Kang-ho Song. Song plays a priest that volunteers to undergo an experiment to try and garner a cure for a deadly disease. Instead, he almost dies and in the process, is given a blood transfusion. Somehow this transfusion turns him into a vampire. He finds himself craving, needing blood and this starts a slow descent into a private hell full of torment and guilt.
He reconnects with a childhood sweetheart and his desire for her coupled with his feeling of damnation leads him to make some bad choices. These choices snowball and events in his life quickly unravel and become surreal. The story is filled with allegory, illusion, humor, action, drama and more. The moments of dark humor will take you by surprise-in a good way. The film maintained continuity in its excellence throughout. I do not think any viewer will leave this one disappointed.