Quartile rating: 8/10 · 1 rating
Kyung-chul is a dangerous psychopath who kills for pleasure. Soo-hyeon, a top-secret agent, decides to track down the murderer himself. He promises himself that he will do everything in his power to take vengeance against the killer, even if it means that he must become a monster himself.
I Saw the Devil is a visceral, relentless Korean revenge thriller that elevates its genre through sheer craft and moral audacity. The acting is exceptional — Choi Min-sik delivers one of cinema's most terrifying and charismatic villain performances, while Lee Byung-hun matches him with cold intensity. Cinematography is stunning, with director Kim Jee-woon using widescreen compositions and controlled camera movement to create both beauty and dread in equal measure — the taxi sequence in particular is a masterclass. Novelty is high: the film reframes the revenge thriller by making the cat-and-mouse dynamic itself a form of corruption, genuinely interrogating what vengeance costs the avenger. The plot, while gripping, occasionally strains credibility with its repetitive catch-and-release structure. The ending, while thematically resonant and deeply grim, lands more as expected tragedy than genuine surprise given where the film is heading — it earns its bleakness but doesn't fully transcend it.