Let us open the scene on every woman’s worst nightmare; it’s cold, dark, and you are broken down on the side of the road alone when a strange man approaches. Yep, sounds like the opening to a thrilling movie. “I Saw the Devil” is a chilling movie about how far a man will go to get vengeance for the woman he loves after she is brutally murdered by an infamous serial killer. The amazing direction of Jee-woon Kim guides us through a cat and mouse game of torture, blood, and insanity as we follow our lead man, Kim Soo-hyeon, on the path of revenge. Soo-hyeon is a secret service agent with a beautiful fiancé before his world is turned upside down by her horrific murder. The police have searched for the serial killer with no luck, so Soo-hyeon takes leave from work promising his murdered love that this man will pay for what he did to her. We then follow as Soo-hyeon hunts down the killer and what revenge and anger can do to one man.
This movie was beautifully executed with enough story to keep it from being a gore fest. It’s fascinating to watch evil versus good and to watch those distinguishing lines get severely blurred. There are times when the viewer is incredibly uncomfortable with the scene, and I found myself rooting for some of the torture. Min-sik Choi, who plays our serial killer, is an incredible actor. He creates such a disgusting, deplorable character that is scarily believable. The viewer cannot help but wish this guy a slow, painful death.
I loved this movie even with the subtitles. I cannot wait to watch it again. A little fun trivia is that the version I watched had less violence in it. The original was so graphic that it could not be given anything less that a “restricted” rating which would prohibit it from being released to theatres and home movies. I Saw the Devil is a must must must see.
