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Byung-hun Lee, Min-sik Choi, Chun Kook-Haun, Ho-jin Chun, San-ha Oh ... see more see more... , Yoon-seo Kim , Choi Moo-seong , Kim In-Seo , Gook-hwan Jeon , Ho-jin Jeon

I SAW THE DEVIL is a shockingly violent and stunningly accomplished tale of murder and revenge from Korean genre master KIM Jee-woon (The Good, The Bad, The Weird and A Tale of Two Sisters). Oldboy's ... read more read more...CHOI Min-sik plays Kyung-chul, a dangerous psychopath who kills for pleasure. The embodiment of pure evil, he has committed horrifying and senselessly cruel serial murders on defenseless victims, successfully eluding capture by the police. 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 Soo-hyun (The Good, The Bad, The Weird's LEE Byung-hyun). Obsessed with revenge, Soo-hyun 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. The lines between good and evil fall away in this diabolically twisted game of cat and mouse. Pushing the concept of revenge to its most extreme limits, KIM Jee-woon brilliantly transcends the police procedural and serial killer genres in surprising and thrilling new ways. -- (C) Magnet

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85% liked it

13,532 ratings

Critics

79% liked it

77 critics

Unrated, 2 hr. 23 min.

Directed by: Ji-woon Kim

Release Date: March 4, 2011

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DVD Release Date: May 10, 2011

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Flixster Reviews (1,497)

  • flixsterman
    March 17, 2012
    flixsterman
    This is one Charles Bronson away from being a Korean Death Wish.
  • fb1463751009
    March 10, 2012
    fb1463751009
    "I Saw The Devil" was incredibly well made. Breathtaking cinematography that comes with extremely believable performances. The story was interesting and took me along the ride but one of my biggest things that turned me away was the incredible amount of gore and sexuality. It doe... read moresn't have gore that is over-the-top like "Hostel" but the idea behind the violence almost hits the taboo limit. It is definitely an entertaining and thrilling movie but it is not a movie that I would imagine watching again.
  • paulkoh110
    January 3, 2012
    paulkoh110
    Cinematography is beautiful and genius! The story is dark and its characters are deep within their core emotions. Brutality is the norm in this revenge film and possibly makes it one of its best in contemporary thrillers!
  • kiriyamakazou
    December 31, 2011
    kiriyamakazou
    Korean's and revenge movies. They just keep joining forces. Here's the basic plot for I Saw the Devil, man kills woman, woman's fiancà (C)e comes after man. That's simplifying it, because this soon takes us into new, if fairly brutal territory. Our supposed hero quickly and easil... read morey finds the man responsible, and after beating him senseless, he leaves him in a hole with an envelope of cash. He's also placed a tracking device upon his person and this leads to our protagonist repeatedly hunting down the murderer and beating him again and again. This really emphasises the man becoming the monster that all revenge films kind of hint at. Here it is spelled out, in what we see and the dialogue of some of the supporting characters. As Soo Hyeon continues to release Kyung Chul, Kyung Chul is able to hurt more and more people. Soo Hyeon doesn't care about this, as long as his thirst for vengeance is quenched. Making Soo Hyeon so reckless in his revenge is what keeps us apart from him. Though he never really becomes a monster, just selfish. Rather than completely criticising revenge, it at times seems to suggest that you should just get the revenge over with as quickly as possible. Like many Korean films it has a wicked sense of humour, which is used to shock and also satirise the police. Once again they are incompetent, dropping a box with a victim's head in front of journalists and photographers. The film is brutal to begin with. I kept expecting the torture to end, but then calmly, it would cut back to the murder or clean up. This calm sensibility puts us in the mind of the killer. Lee is fantastic in his kickass role. You feel the anger and emotion and do care for his safety at first, but once he becomes too self absorbed you lose your connection to the film. Choi is incredible as always. He is terrifying without becoming a lunatic. His control over those around him is perfectly believable. It's an engaging film overall, though its morals are fairly mixed up at times, which is probably the point. It's biggest problem is being too long and repetitive and using too many plot holes as escape routes to further the plot. I could have done without the cannibal house scene, as this just made it seem like some fantasy serial killer forest where they all get together for parties.
  • romy861
    October 30, 2011
    romy861
    Absolutely horrible viewing, but a really good movie. Had to look away several times. What is it with Min-sik Choi and his yucky characters - plays an absolutely unhinged psycho here, very convincing too. This is a guy I would not want to meet out on my own at night!
    Extremely... read more violent, but compelling movie that doesn't drag even though it is over 2 hours long. Good ending too.
  • fb57802118
    October 18, 2011
    fb57802118
    An arrestingly beautiful revenge film that rises above its narrow moralistic trappings. I had no idea they made movies like this in South Korea. The cinematography is beautiful, the action is sharply edited--you could see Kim Jee-woon directing a James Bond film (and it'd probabl... read morey be the best one). It's very violent, but the violence is brief and sharp--think of it as punctuation to set the tone of character and scene. Most interesting is the moral cesspool our hero slowly spirals into. It's nothing less than a deconstruction of the revenge genre. Do yourself a favor and see this film.
  • blkbomb
    August 21, 2011
    blkbomb
    Kim Soo-hyeon: I hope you suffer, even after you die.

    "Evil lives inside"

    I Saw the Devil is a relentless, violent, disturbing, sickening and great film from Jee-woon Kim. If you don't like movies with tons of violence and an extreme amount of gore and sickening images; this is... read moren't for you. If you do, you won't find a revenge thriller much better then I Saw the Devil. The two lead actors, Byung-hun Lee and Min-sik Choi are simply amazing with their respected roles. Lee plays a man who just lost his wife and sets out to get revenge on the murdering psychopath who committed the crime. Choi plays that psychopath. He's a serial killer and like every other serial killer; he enjoys what he does a lot. 

    Jee-woon Kim spares no expense in showing the viewer all the bloody violence in it's entirety. The violence is brutal and at times pretty fucking gross. It looks realistic. The movie looks and sounds great. The music score is really good and really set the mood for the entire movie. The film clocks in at around 140 minutes and there wasn't a second in that runtime where I wished it would speed up or end. I was hooked pulled into the story and couldn't look away the entire time. 

    I Saw the Devil is easily one of my favorite movies I've seen this year. It's direction and acting is brilliant and leaves nothing to gripe about. I loved this movie in all it's bloody, gory glory.
  • fb573414556
    August 17, 2011
    fb573414556
    Anything directed by Kim Ji Woon, is going to be good, for me he's the best director working in Korea at the moment, he's better then Chan Wook park (Oldboy, Thirst) and he's better then Jon-Ho Bong (The Host), infact, as well as being my favourite Korean director he's also my j... read moreoint second favourite director of all time, there's something about his film which truly makes them stand out. What I'm really trying to say is that 'I Saw the Devil' did not dissapoint.

    Choi Min-sik from 'Oldboy' plays a violent serial killer Kyung-chul who kills a police officer called Soo-hyun's (Lee Byung-hyun) fiancee. Instead of catching the killer like a normal police man would though, Soo-hyun decides to stalk and torment Kyung-chul by placing a tracking device on him.

    'I Saw the Devil' merges the line between good and evil and is beautifully shot. The film is also very violent (just how I like it) and some of Kyul-chul murder scenes are a joy to watch (the tension is the taxi cab scene in particular was on of my favourites).

    There's not much else to say really without spoiling the film. I'm just happy to see a decent film after the last few pieces of garbage.
  • binky013
    July 27, 2011
    binky013
    Two of my favorite Korean actors going head to head in this savage revenge drama. It's a bummer to see Min-sik Choi play a bad guy, but man, does he do it well.

    Nobody does revenge better than Koreans, and as a result, nobody better understands the consequences of seeking rev

    ... read moreenge.

    If you are not into blood and violence, then plenty of Korean films are not for you, and this one in particular will be a challenge to get through. However, nobody mixes dark humor with bloody violence like the Koreans do either.
  • DrZeek
    July 12, 2011
    DrZeek
    Soo-hyeon: Your nightmare's only getting worse.

    There are a lot of revenge films that currently exist out there. While I am always up for a sweet revenge tale, it does excite me much more when it is a film coming out of South Korea. Over the course of the past decade, South K... read moreorea has continued to prove to me that some of the best, stylish, and most ambitious films are coming out of that area. Now I have gotten a chance to see one of the latest treats from South Korea, I Saw the Devil, which is a wonderfully bloody, but stylized, revenge film. This is a film that warps the idea of a cat-and-mouse thriller and benefits heavily based on the way this film handles familiar aspects of this sub-genre. The film presents a few different positions on the condition of psychopaths and is certainly violent, but beautifully made in a very bleak sort of way.

    read the whole review at thecodeiszeek.com

View All I Saw the Devil Reviews

Critic Reviews

Tom Long
April 15, 2011
Tom Long, Detroit News

This is the stuff of nightmares, where even the good guy is bad, and as shock cinema goes, it packs a punch. Full Review

Liam Lacey
March 18, 2011
Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail

After a while, the sheer length and repetitiousness of the film begins to feel pornographic in the dullest sense. Full Review

Mark Jenkins
March 18, 2011
Mark Jenkins, Washington Post

Director Kim Jee-woon is a born filmmaker, even if this script (written by Park Hoon Jung and adapted by Kim) is unworthy of his efforts. Full Review

Wesley Morris
March 17, 2011
Wesley Morris, Boston Globe

As revenge fantasy, "I Saw the Devil'' is clever. As comedy, it's sick. As moviegoing, it's tedious... Full Review

Roger Moore
March 16, 2011
Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel

A thriller that makes you wish you knew how to scream "O.M.G." in Korean. Full Review

V.A. Musetto
March 4, 2011
V.A. Musetto, New York Post

When it comes to bloody revenge movies, it's difficult to beat the South Koreans. Full Review

Mark Olsen
March 3, 2011
Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times

Even at its most chaotic, the film never loses sight of the human toll of the increasingly over-the-top events it portrays. Full Review

Jeannette Catsoulis
March 3, 2011
Jeannette Catsoulis, New York Times

A droll Nietzschean fable that's fully aware of its lapses into absurdity. Full Review

Lisa Schwarzbaum
March 2, 2011
Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly

Somewhere in all the blood (sickening realism is a selling point), a question is posed: When does the one fighting a monster become a monster himself? Full Review

Michael Atkinson
March 1, 2011
Michael Atkinson, Village Voice

Never good with nuance, Kim is a beast with disarming imagery (like the severed head that turns face-up in a river current) but has few resonating ideas, leaving the domino-tumble of brutality to beco... Full Review

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