The third stop in Chan-wook Park's breathless revenge trilogy, Lady Vengeance comes down slightly--just slightly--from the astonishing highs of middle segment Oldboy. Elegant and ultraviolent in equal measures, Lady Vengeance requires rapt attention from the opening moments, as Park unloads his set-up in a jumble of characters and flashbacks. At the center is a doll-faced ex-con named Geum-ja (Yeong-ae Lee), who just spent 13 years in the slammer for killing a little boy. There's much more to her case than the public knows, and Geum-ja has been carefully, quietly preparing for revenge against the man who put her in this situation. We watch those gears turning throughout the movie, but as Lady Vengeancenears its completion it broadens into an even bigger event than Geum-ja expected. Funny and horrifying, Lady Vengeance is as measured as Geum-ja's own preparations, and has a gorgeous sort of logic about it. As impressive as those machinations are to watch, the movie doesn't make as forceful an argument as Oldboy on just how revenge might be as punishing to the revenge-taker as for his target. Lee is a cool heroine, and Min-sik Choi, who did such heroically exhausting service in Oldboy, is here employed as the monster. (The film's title in the U.S., Lady Vengeance, is different from international title Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, a closer tie to the first part of the trilogy, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance.) (synopsis provided by Amazon.com)
directed by Park Chanwook
released 2005
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