Sympathy For Mr Vengeance: Special Edition R3 DTS DVD review

Sigismund

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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" BGCOLOR="5A5A5A" ALIGN="CENTER"><TR><TD WIDTH="40">&nbsp;</TD><TD STYLE='font-size: 18px; color: white; text-align: center '>SYMPATHY FOR MR VENGEANCE: SPECIAL EDITION</TD><TD WIDTH="40"></TD></TR></TABLE>
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" BGCOLOR="5A5A5A" ALIGN="CENTER"><TR><TD WIDTH="120"><TD><TD STYLE='font-size: 10px; color: white; text-align: center'>Reviewed May 2004 by <A HREF="http://www.totaldvd.net/cgi-bin/dvdreviews.php?dvdid=Mark Haywood">Mark Haywood.</A></TD><TD WIDTH="120" STYLE='font-size: 10px; color: white; text-align: right'>

</TD></TR></TABLE>
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="2" ALIGN="CENTER"><TR><TD COLSPAN="2" VALIGN="TOP"><IMG SRC="http://www.wvip.co.uk/images/dvd/SympathyForMrVengeance/SympathyForMrVengeanceR3.jpg" ALT="SYMPATHY FOR MR VENGEANCE: SPECIAL EDITION" ALIGN="RIGHT"><B>BOKSUNEUN NAUI GEOT (2002)<B><TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="2"><TR><TD WIDTH="65" VALIGN="TOP" STYLE="font-size: 10px">Genres</TD><TD STYLE="font-size: 10px"><A HREF="http://www.totaldvd.net/cgi-bin/dvdreviews.php?include=exact&searchfield=genre&search_for=DRAMA">DRAMA</A>, <A HREF="http://www.totaldvd.net/cgi-bin/dvdreviews.php?include=exact&searchfield=genre&search_for=ACTION">ACTION</A></TD></TR></TABLE>
<TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="2"><TR><TD WIDTH="65" VALIGN="TOP" STYLE="font-size: 10px">Director</TD><TD STYLE="font-size: 10px"><A HREF="http://www.totaldvd.net/cgi-bin/dvdreviews.php?include=all&searchfield=director&search_for=CHAN-WOOK PARK">CHAN-WOOK PARK</A></TD></TR></TABLE>
<TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="2"><TR><TD WIDTH="65" VALIGN="TOP" STYLE="font-size: 10px">Stars</TD><TD STYLE="font-size: 10px"><A HREF="http://www.totaldvd.net/cgi-bin/dvdreviews.php?include=all&searchfield=stars&search_for=KANG-HO SONG">KANG-HO SONG</A>, <A HREF="http://www.totaldvd.net/cgi-bin/dvdreviews.php?include=all&searchfield=stars&search_for=HA-KYUN SHIN">HA-KYUN SHIN</A>, <A HREF="http://www.totaldvd.net/cgi-bin/dvdreviews.php?include=all&searchfield=stars&search_for=DU-NA BAE">DU-NA BAE</A>, <A HREF="http://www.totaldvd.net/cgi-bin/dvdreviews.php?include=all&searchfield=stars&search_for=JI-EUN LIM">JI-EUN LIM</A></TD></TR></TABLE>
<TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="2"><TR><TD WIDTH="65" STYLE="font-size: 10px"><B>Region</B></TD><TD STYLE="font-size: 10px"><B>3</B> <FONT STYLE="font-size: 10px">(KOREA)</FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD VALIGN="TOP" WIDTH="65" STYLE="font-size: 10px">Supplier</TD><TD><FONT STYLE="font-size: 10px">CJ Entertainment. Released Saturday 10th August 2002</FONT></TD></TR>
<TR><TD VALIGN="TOP" WIDTH="65" STYLE="font-size: 10px">Discs</TD><TD><FONT STYLE="font-size: 10px">2</FONT></TD></TR>
<TR><TD VALIGN="TOP" WIDTH="65" STYLE="font-size: 10px">Format</TD><TD><FONT STYLE="font-size: 10px">DVD 9</FONT></TD></TR>
<TR><TD VALIGN="TOP" WIDTH="65" STYLE="font-size: 10px">Time</TD><TD><FONT STYLE="font-size: 10px">120 mins.</FONT></TD></TR>
<TR><TD VALIGN="TOP" WIDTH="65" STYLE="font-size: 10px">Chapters</TD><TD><FONT STYLE="font-size: 10px">19</FONT></TD></TR>
</TABLE><TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="2"><TR><TD WIDTH="65" VALIGN="TOP" STYLE="font-size: 10px">Picture</TD><TD STYLE="font-size: 10px">Anamorphic Widescreen 2.28:1&nbsp;</TD>
</TR></TABLE><TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="2"><TR><TD WIDTH="65" VALIGN="TOP" STYLE="font-size: 10px">Sound</TD><TD STYLE="font-size: 10px">Korean Dolby Digital 5.1<BR>Korean <IMG SRC="http://www.totaldvd.net/images/dts.gif" ALIGN="ABSMIDDLE" BORDER="0" ALT="DTS Soundtrack"> 5.1<BR>Korean Dolby Digital 2.0</TD></TR></TABLE>
<TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="2"><TR><TD WIDTH="65" VALIGN="TOP" STYLE="font-size: 10px">Subtitles</TD><TD STYLE="font-size: 10px">English, Korean</TD></TR></TABLE>
<TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="2"><TR><TD WIDTH="65" VALIGN="TOP" STYLE="font-size: 10px">Case</TD><TD STYLE="font-size: 10px">Amaray</TD></TR></TABLE>
<TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="2"><TR><TD WIDTH="65" VALIGN="TOP" STYLE="font-size: 10px">Extras</TD><TD STYLE="font-size: 10px">The Making Of Mr Vengeance<BR>My Boksu Story<BR>Staff Interview<BR>Production Note<BR>Moving Continuity<BR>O.S.T. and Photos<BR>International Trailer</TD></TR></TABLE>
</TD></TR></TABLE>

<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="2" ALIGN="CENTER" BGCOLOR="5A5A5A"><TR><TD WIDTH="100" STYLE="color: white; font-size: 10px"><B>The Movie</B></TD><TD STYLE="color: white; font-size: 10px"><B>8</B></TD></TR></TABLE>
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="2" ALIGN="CENTER"><TR><TD STYLE='text-align: justify; font-size: 10px'><P STYLE="font-size: 10px">I must admit… I found <b>Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance</b> or Boksuneun naui geot to give the movie its native title, a very strange movie to watch. I really had no idea what to expect, but for some reason the cover art gave me the impression it was going to be a thriller of some kind. Indeed, by the time I had cottoned on to the fact that this is a black comedy… the movie changed style, becoming an all out hard-hitting tale of revenge. This kind of threw me, so I decided to give the movie a second viewing… and I’m really pleased I did! I realised, second time around, just how stylish a movie this is, beautifully shot with lots of interesting camera angles and directed with a real attention to detail.</p><P STYLE="font-size: 10px">The story revolves around the rather sad character of <b>Ryu</b>, a deaf mute, who is desperate to find a kidney donor for his ailing sister. Ryu’s kidney is incompatible and, as the hospital doctor explains, the chances of finding a match within the foreseeable future are next to zero. So he turns to the black market, where the going rate for a kidney is 10,000 Won (a S. Korean currency), which just happens to be his life savings. Suffice to say Ryu gets rooked… out of more than just his money, and he and his militant activist girlfriend come up with another idea to raise the much-needed cash. Kidnapping. For a while it all goes according to plan… and then it all goes horribly wrong.</p><P STYLE="font-size: 10px">I feel that if I expand on the plot any more I may spoil the movie for you, so I’ll just say that I thoroughly enjoyed <b>Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance</b>, and it’s tale of revenge and counter-revenge. Actually, I’m not sure “enjoyed” is the right word, but I certainly appreciated the quality of the movie and, in my eyes, it has all the ingredients for reaching minor cult status; interesting, well defined characters; great cinematography; and a simple, yet horrifyingly sad story. Oh, and some painfully gruesome scenes of, occasionally gratuitous, violence – with a nice little twist at the end to remind everyone that this is indeed a thriller/black comedy. If you can get passed the slight intrusion that subtitles inevitably create, a little gem of a movie could well be revealed.</p></TD></TR></TABLE>

<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="2" ALIGN="CENTER" BGCOLOR="5A5A5A"><TR><TD WIDTH="100" STYLE="color: white; font-size: 10px"><B>Picture</B></TD><TD STYLE="color: white; font-size: 10px"><B>7</B></TD></TR></TABLE>
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="2" ALIGN="CENTER"><TR><TD STYLE='text-align: justify; font-size: 10px'><P STYLE="font-size: 10px">The anamorphically-enhanced 2.28:1 image is, for the most part, nicely detailed, although I did feel it could do with being a touch sharper… I sometimes thought it looked a little on the soft side and seemed to lack that depth of field quality that the latest mega bucks movies seem to achieve. I never noticed any signs of edge enhancement – during both sittings. The colour palette leans towards the slightly muted side of the scale at times, although perhaps unsurprisingly, blood reds are always particularly vibrant. The only really negative criticism I have regarding picture quality is the infrequent, but noticeable, amount of print damage that shows up by way of nicks and scratches throughout.</p></TD></TR></TABLE>
<P STYLE='text-align: center'><IMG SRC="http://www.totaldvd.net/cgi-bin/makeimage.php?image=SympathyForMrVengeance/SympathyForMrVengeance_1.jpg" ALT="SYMPATHY FOR MR VENGEANCE: SPECIAL EDITION"></P>

<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="2" ALIGN="CENTER" BGCOLOR="5A5A5A"><TR><TD WIDTH="100" STYLE="color: white; font-size: 10px"><B>Sound</B></TD><TD STYLE="color: white; font-size: 10px"><B>7</B></TD></TR></TABLE>
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="2" ALIGN="CENTER"><TR><TD STYLE='text-align: justify; font-size: 10px'><P STYLE="font-size: 10px">There are Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS or straight forward stereo audio tracks from which to choose, all in Korean – I bypassed the stereo side of things and concentrated on the Dolby Digital and DTS flavours. I certainly preferred the DTS offering, which is more “weighty” and authoritive than its Dolby counterpart. For example, at the beginning of the movie we are taken to Ryu’s factory workplace where we are treated to some beefy sub woofer moments. The DTS track is undoubtedly louder, but is also more refined with a tighter, stronger lower end. The extra bass also seems to add a little weight to the vocal side of things, even if I couldn’t understand a word that was being said! Having said that there are large chunks of this movie when audio wise nothing of note really takes place… then suddenly the crunch of metal baseball bat against human skull or some similarly unpleasant sound effect reminds you that your amp is still engaged in DTS mode.</p><P STYLE="font-size: 10px">Not up to reference quality, then but more than able to hold its own.</p></TD></TR></TABLE>
<P STYLE='text-align: center'><IMG SRC="http://www.totaldvd.net/cgi-bin/makeimage.php?image=SympathyForMrVengeance/SympathyForMrVengeance_2.jpg" ALT="SYMPATHY FOR MR VENGEANCE: SPECIAL EDITION"></P>

<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="2" ALIGN="CENTER" BGCOLOR="5A5A5A"><TR><TD WIDTH="100" STYLE="color: white; font-size: 10px"><B>Extras</B></TD><TD STYLE="color: white; font-size: 10px"><B>0</B></TD></TR></TABLE>
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="2" ALIGN="CENTER"><TR><TD STYLE='text-align: justify; font-size: 10px'><P STYLE="font-size: 10px">This is a two disc set with the movie and audio commentary on disc 1 and the rest of the supplemental features on disc 2. Sadly, the commentary is in Korean with no subtitles, as are all the extra features, so unless you can understand Korean…</p></TD></TR></TABLE>
<P STYLE='text-align: center'><IMG SRC="http://www.totaldvd.net/cgi-bin/makeimage.php?image=SympathyForMrVengeance/SympathyForMrVengeance_3.jpg" ALT="SYMPATHY FOR MR VENGEANCE: SPECIAL EDITION"></P>
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="2" ALIGN="CENTER" BGCOLOR="5A5A5A"><TR><TD WIDTH="100" STYLE="color: white; font-size: 10px"><B>Verdict</B></TD><TD STYLE="color: white; font-size: 10px"><B>8</B></TD></TR></TABLE>
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="2" ALIGN="CENTER"><TR><TD STYLE='text-align: justify; font-size: 10px'><P STYLE="font-size: 10px">Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance is a stylish black comedy/psychological thriller with good picture and audio qualities, and receives “Recommended” status from me. Shame about those extras, though.</p></TD></TR></TABLE>
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="2" ALIGN="CENTER" BGCOLOR="5A5A5A"><TR><TD>&nbsp;</TD></TR></TABLE>
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0"><TR><TD ALIGN="CENTER">Review disc supplied by <A HREF="http://www.dvdarirang.com"><img src="http://www.wvip.co.uk/images/dvd/SuppliersLogos/DVDArirangSmall.jpg" ALIGN="ABSMIDDLE"></TD></TR></TABLE>
 
Nice review, great film. Out of interest, any plans to review the final in the trilogy 'Sympathy For Lady Vengeance'?
 
Yes, it's already been added to this months review schedule - although depends when the disk is received (what with Xmas post), depends when it will be posted - but keep 'em peeled.
 
Thanks for the swift reply Seth. I look forward to the review very much. I must admit, I'll probably buy the R3 2 disc as soon as it's available, but I do enjoy the reviews. Since discovering AVForum reviews, I've also discovered Asian cinema. It's absolutely fantastic, I've bought more Korean, Japanese and Thai DVDs lately than Western. :smashin:
Ironically, and you'll know why, ;) after 'Oldboy', Russells review of 'Shutter' really got me started. Thanks one and all.
 
Any idea when the box set is due out?
 
Great review of a great movie. I got my copy from DVDfromKorea.com and it has a different cover from the one you have shown (exactly the same disc contents though, I think)

SFMrV.jpg
 

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