Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance Review

Hype:  Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance is a South Korean film that is part of director Park Chan-wook's Vengeance Trilogy.  This film is the first one of the series.  I have seen the second one, Oldboy, and absolutely loved it.  Even though I have seen a the second film of the trilogy I have no idea what this one is about.  The only reason the films are part of the trilogy are because of their themes, the characters are not related in anyway.  I'm not expecting Sympathy of Mr. Vengeance to be as good as Oldboy, but I hope it's still entertaining to watch.

Initial Review:  Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance is the story of Ryu, who is a deaf-mute.  Ryu's sister desperately needs a kidney transplant.  Problem is it doesn't look like his sister will be getting a kidney anytime soon so Ryu decides to try and get a kidney on the black market.  That ends up going horribly wrong, Ryu gets his money and his own kidney taken from him.  Ryu and his friend, Yeong-mi, decide to kidnap the daughter of Ryu's former bosses friend and hold her for ransom.  This ends up succeeding except for the fact that Ryu's sister finds out and commits suicide.  While Ryu is burying his sister's body, the girl they kidnapped, Yu-sun, falls into a river and drowns.  Yu-sun's dad, Dong-jin, is called to the crime scene and decides to seek revenge.

Now is where things get crazy.  Ryu seeks out the people that took his kidney.  He is able to find the trio that did that too him and he kills them.  Dong-jin seeks out Ryu and Yeong-mi.  Dong-jin finds Yeong-mi and tortures her to get information on Ryu's location.  Ryu finds out about this torture and seeks revenge on Dong-jin.

As you can probably tell, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, is all about getting revenge.  I personally found the story to be pretty intriguing at first.  But as the story kept going things started getting a little disturbing.  After seeing Oldboy, I thought this movie would be a little graphic, but I wasn't expecting this.  I felt that the scenes involving Yu-sun dying were a bit over the top.  I really didn't need to see the body of a dead little girl so many times.  It got so bad I was on the verge of turning the movie off.  The scenes with Ryu killing the people that took his kidney were also over the top.

Aside from the disturbing images, I felt that Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance was gorgeously filmed.  There are many scenes where I was just blown away from the cinematography.  The scenes near the river were just incredible.

I loved Oldboy, but it did take some time to recover from it.   Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance is a film that I want to love, even like, but I don't think I can.  The death scenes were too intense and unnecessary.  If you feel like you can handle disturbing images, then see this film.  But if you get offended with fairly graphic scenes then I recommend not seeing this movie.

Repeat Viewings: N/A

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Review

Hype:  Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is one of the most hyped movies of the 2008 summer.  This is expected since it is an Indiana Jones film which is a hugely popular franchise.  All of the big names from the previous Indy films are back, Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones, George Lucas as writer and Steven Spielberg as director.  The first 3 films of the Indy series are extremely entertaining and a joy to watch (some will disagree when it comes to The Temple of Doom).  The reviews for Crystal Skull so far are decent (sitting at 77% on RottenTomatoes).  Let's see if this Indy can hold up against the rest of the series.

Initial Review:  Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull puts Indiana up against the Soviet Union, who are after these crystal skulls that have this mystical power.  Along the journey, Indiana meets up with Mutt Williams, played by Shia LaBeouf, who tells Indy he needs to save Harold Oxley and Mutt's mom, Marion Ravenwood.  For those who have seen the first Indy movie (Raiders of the Lost Ark) will recognize the name Marion for she was the female lead in that one as well.  Oxley was in South America looking for the crystal skulls and he was suddenly kidnapped.  Mutt and Indy head to South America where they, of course, run into the Soviets and also find Oxley and Marion.  Indy and the gang are able to escape from the Soviets and find where the crystal skulls are.

This wouldn't be an Indiana film if Harrison Ford did not have some crazy escape scenes.  The problem with Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls is that most, if not all, of the escapes were pretty lame.  In one of the first escapes Indy hides in a refrigerator and survives a nuclear blast.  I mean come on, how does that fit with the other Indy escapes?  Another escape, probably the best one, involves Mutt and Indy starting a Greasers vs. Jocks fight in a local diner that allows them to get away from the KGB.  During a jungle chase.  Mutt and the leader of the Soviets, Irina Spalko (played by Cate Blanchett), have a sword fight across two vehicles and Mutt actually gets hit in his man-region by bushes.  Mutt actually ends up getting stuck in a tree and this monkey finds and helps him.  Why does the monkey help him?  Because they have the same haircut.  You won't find stuff this ridiculous in the other Indy films, well maybe the Temple of Doom.  None of these scenes had me sitting at the edge of my seat wondering what was going to happen next.  Instead I was sitting in my chair laughing at how ridiculous they were.

There were many instances while watching The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull where I actually wanted to walk out.  That doesn't happen to me with movies.  I felt like this movie lacked the Indiana charm that can be found in the first three.  I really hope that this is the last of the Indy films or that it follows the pattern of the first three: biblical artifact, some random artifact, biblical artifact.  That would make Indy 5 have some biblical artifact that would hopefully help make it feel less silly and more enjoyable.

I didn't have too high of expectations for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, but I didn't expect it to be as bad as it was.  I don't recommend it at all.  If you want to see a movie wait until The Dark Knight or see Iron Man again.

Repeat Viewings: N/A

Donnie Darko Review

Hype:  Donnie Darko stars Jake Gyllenhaal as a teenage who sees a large bunny with a metallic face, that's about all I know about the plot of this film.  Other than that I know that it has a huge cult following and has gained in popularity throughout the past couple of years.  I am actually really looking forward to seeing this movie.  I hope it lives up to the expectations I have for it.

Initial Review:  For me it is really hard to fully explain what Donnie Darko is about.  Donnie is a teenage boy that sees a rabbit that causes him to do strange tasks.  Along the way he meets and falls for Gretchen Ross, played by Jena Malone.  Donnie's family is forced out of their house after a plane's engine drops into Donnie's room.  Donnie survives this crash because Frank, Donnie's imaginary friend in a man-sized rabbit costume had told Donnie to go for a walk.  While on this walk Frank tells Donnie that there are just over 28 days until the end of the world.

Frank's instructions don't stop after that night.  Frank tells Donnie to flood his high school, read a controversial book about time travel, and to burn down the house of a motivational speaker that Donnie constantly butts heads with.

Donnie Darko has an all-star cast that includes Drew Barrymore, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Patrick Swayze, Noah Wyle, and a young Seth Rogan.  I really enjoyed Patrick Swayze's character, the motivational speaker whose house Donnie burns down.  I was really impressed with Jake Gyllenhaal and the way he acted while sleep walking and while under hypnosis when he was at the psychiatrist.  I feel that Jake was a perfect fit for the role of Donnie, he just looks like a guy a regular teenage boy that pulls off the depressed look really well.

I found this movie to be very original and a joy to watch.  I never knew what was going to happen next and was pleased with all the surprises.  I really enjoyed all the characters and thought all the actors did a great job.  It was really fun seeing a young Seth Rogan, who plays a bully that picks on Gretchen.  I highly recommend this movie.  If you are looking for a movie that is original, slightly depressing, and overall just a joy to watch, Donnie Darko is the movie for you.

Repeat Viewings: N/A