Lady Vengeance

By Buzz McClain -- Video Business, 8/28/2006

Story Line: After spending 13 years in jail for helping a kindergarten teacher (Min-sik Choi) commit murder, Geum-ja (Yeong-ae Lee) executes several episodes of cool, calculated revenge, beginning with the abduction of the instructor who betrayed her.

Bottom Line: You could call Lady Vengeance "Oldgirl." Director Park works his uniquely stylish "cinemagic"—the editing, wipes and special effects look like something an energized Martin Scorsese would do—and builds an engrossing revenge story from the inside out with the denouement nowhere in sight until the grim, bitter end. There are bouts of very dark comedy along the way, but the real show here is Geum-ja's methodical slaying of various interlopers who have complicated her life. She gives new meaning to "killing with kindness" as she smiles sweetly throughout the mayhem. The finale is every violated parent's fantasy: putting their child's murderer in the room with them to mete out punishment. To prolong the sequence, the dad wielding the battle axe is up last. There are confusing complications—the arrival of Geum-ja's petulant daughter is the most useless sidetrack—but those who were beguiled by the other entries in Park's revenge trilogy, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002) and Oldboy (2003), won't be disappointed.

Color, R (mature themes, sexual situations, language, violence, gore), 112 min., DVD $22.95, Korean with English subtitles
Street: Sept. 26, Prebook: now
First Run: L, April 2006, <$1 mil.
Director: Chan-wook Park
TARTAN/GENIUS

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