Lee Geum-Ja is a pretty Korean girl who goes to prison at the young age of 19 for the abduction and murder of a child. She was betrayed and sent there and had to spend 13 years inside the walls and she used her time to plot her revenge towards the man who got her there in the first place. Now 13 years later she's out of prison and with the help from some people she meet during her time there she sets out to take her revenge on the man who put her there.
This is the third and last movie in Chan-wook Park's trilogy about vengeance, but even though it's part of a trilogy it's still a stand alone movie and doesn't require that you have seen the two earlier ones that are Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and Oldboy, although I think most people wanting to see this one have seen the two other movies before as well.
Oldboy was a huge hit and is of course kinda hard to beat but even though it's made by the same director and has a common theme of vengeance you still should not watch this expecting a new Oldboy because it's not. It's a separate movie and I don't think they should be compared since they are different so when you watch it, just forget about Oldboy for a while.
I've been really excited to see this movie for quite some time now and now when I've finally got to see it is it as good as hoped for? The answear is yes. I didn't expect a new Oldboy and I knew it was gonna be different, I still had high expectations but feel that Sympathy for Lady Vengeance really delivered, not because I really wanted it to be good but because it actually was very good.
 
First off you have the story which is great and makes you interested to see where it's going and also you get to know the main character so well that you actually care for her which in the end makes the movie so much better.
The directing is as expected really good and the actors are good too. I didn't really like the daughter but I have a tendensy to hate all kids in movies so that doesn't really count and also her Australian foster parents were kinda crappy actors but fortunately you don't get to see them too much.
Other than that it only has good things to offer and also that Lee Geum-Ja has a really clear and strong motivation for taking revenge that does not make you question her motives.
The music in the movie is of the classical kind but fits so nicely into the scenes and adds a lot of feeling to whatever's going on. It's violent at a few places but does not really have the same graphical violence that Oldboy had and the pace of the movie goes kinda inbetween Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and Oldboy were the first one's being a bit slower.
I liked this a bit more than Mr. Vengeance but it does not beat Oldboy. On the other hand like I mention before, it's a stand alone movie and for the best result when watching it is to not compare it to the other two. Truly recommended.
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ALTERNATIVE TITLE: Chinjeolhan geumjassi
MOVIE YEAR: 2005
DIRECTOR: Chan-wook Park
WRITING CREDITS: Seo-Gyeong Jeong, Chan-wook Park
GENRE: Drama, Thriller
CAST: Min-sik Choi, Hye-jeong Kang, Shi-hoo Kim
COUNTRY: South Korea
RUNTIME: 112 min
RATING: 8/10
Sympathy for Lady Vengeance Website/IMDB Click here
Sympathy for Lady Vengeance Trailer Click here
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