Metascore

Generally favorable reviews - based on 19 Critics What's this?

User Score

Generally favorable reviews- based on 55 Ratings

  • Summary: On a freezing, snowy night, his latest victim is the beautiful Ju-yeon, daughter of a retired police chief and pregnant fiancée of elite special agent Dae-hoon. Obsessed with revenge, Dae-hoon decides to track down the murderer, even if doing so means becoming a monster himself. And when he finds Kyung-chul, turning him in to the authorities is the last thing on his mind. (Magnet Releasing) Expand
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 14 out of 19
  2. Negative: 0 out of 19
  1. Reviewed by: Rene Rodriguez
    Apr 14, 2011
    88
    Director Kim Jee-woon's astonishing story of a serial killer who picks the wrong man's fiancée to murder, is so extreme and intense that it had to be trimmed down in its native country before it was released to theaters. We lucky westerners get to see it in all its hair-raising, stomach-churning glory, and that's a wonderful thing.
  2. Reviewed by: Rob Nelson
    Mar 1, 2011
    80
    Repugnant content, grislier than the ugliest torture porn, ought to have made the film unwatchable, but it doesn't, simply because Kim's picture is so beautifully filmed, carefully structured and viscerally engaging.
  3. Reviewed by: Pam Grady
    Mar 1, 2011
    80
    Plenty of people die in I Saw the Devil, but it is that first attack on Ju-yeon in the movie's opening minutes that reverberates through the epic 141-minute running time.
  4. Reviewed by: Joshua Rothkopf
    Mar 2, 2011
    60
    Ultimately, the returns of the film's premise can't justify a nearly two-and-a-half-hour squirm. The savagery is honest, raw and hardly entertainment.

See all 19 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 13 out of 16
  2. Negative: 2 out of 16
  1. Wow, just wow. Only another Korean movie could come close to the best revenge movie (Oldboy) of our time and "I saw the devil" sure comes close enough. This movie is just like Oldboy a glimpse into the abyss of the human soul/human mind. If you've seen Oldboy, then this movie just like Oldboy will, at the end, leave you in your seat thinking and trying to grasp what you just watched. Collapse
  2. I challenge you how many times do you have to cover your eyes with your hand during thiz film? The movie is so fertile, it makes THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT (2009) and I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE (2010) look like plastic trees. The violence level will shock you to the edge of your seat. A secret agent found his fiancee brutally murdered by the hand of a serial psychopath killer. With all the power he has, the agent hunts down the killer and avenge him through the mercilessly pains he could possibly do. The power of thiz movie is not coming from its story which is predictable but still it leaves you a little twist in the ending, but how The Director describes it so well and brilliant gritty. The fact is Korea Media Rating Board has forced The Director (Jee-Woon Kim) to cut and edit of violent contents in thiz film. Although after the re-editing, in some scenes still will mark something in your mind, especially the killing scenes and violence against women. It is not a recommended for viewers with the weak of heart. Kim is known for his previous works, such as: A TALE OF TWO SISTERS (2003) and THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE WEIRD (2008). In thiz revenge-thriller, the image is colorful with precise lighting and stunning cinematography. The throbbing score works along harmoniously through every scene. However, the focus of this movie undoubtedly is on two main characters. Both bring a depth of emotion in their character development. As NIS agent, Byung-Hun Lee (who is known as Storm Shadow in G.I. JOE: THE RISE OF COBRA (2009)) gives a resolute and complex character, on one side he performs the vengeance without platitude, and on the other side we could see his brittle emotion. As the killer, Min-Sik Choi (who is known as OLDBOY (2003)) provides a convincing crazy psychopath character that is not afraid of anything. It is a perfect role for Choi. Nothing will prepare you for some atrocious scenes. In the end, after seeing thiz film entirely, something will make you realize, who the real Devil is? Is it the killer? Or is it the man who takes revenge to him? Since both of them bring unmerciful heat to their actions. Although they come from different direction and motive, finally they met in the middle anyway, they are the same. It is a good contemplation. Every person has The Devil inside them, the difference is: how far we can tame it?



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  3. Despite the gory violence and mindless blood the movie's plot heads to, "I Saw the Devil" brings revenge into a different level with director Kim's disarming imagery and a powerful, crazy performance by Choi. Expand
  4. The violence is raw and shocking, even too much at times. However, the plot is full of coincidences and happenstance that take away from the premise of one becoming a monster to hunt another. The worst offense is the misogynistic nature of the story in which all the women are useless and powerless against anything that happened to them. They exist in the movie merely as fodders and victims. Expand

See all 16 User Reviews

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