I Saw The Devil (Review)
Monday, 23rd May 2011, 12:43

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The Disc

Extra Features

Interviews (19:05, SD) contains three fairly lengthy, though clearly made for Korean TV EPK pieces, interviews with Kim Jee-woon, Min-sik Choi and Byung-hun Lee, with the latter two edited together so the footage moves from one actor to the other and back again.

Making of (18:12, SD) is, like the interviews, probably made for Korean TV as it is also in 4:3. It isn't the most comprehensive think you'll ever see, but there is some interesting footage of the actors on set and Kim Jee-woon giving direction and looking at the playback footage to decide if another take is necessary.

The disc also contains the teaser trailer and a TV spot.

The Picture

The AVC 1080p picture is just about up there with the best I've seen in the HD format with exceptionally deep contrast levels, realistic flesh tones and solid colours. There are several key scenes which take place in the dark (or where there is very little light) and there is no drop in detail levels so you can pick out every little bit of information. Most of the film has a suitably grim palette with characters wearing blacks, browns, greys and other such muted colours.

I Saw the Devil is extremely well photographed by cinematographer Mogae Lee and edited by Na-young Nam (both apparently in the first film) so some sequences appear quite slick and stylish whereas others are grim and gritty. When it comes to the fight sequences, these are very well put together and edited in a quick, though not too frenetic, way to show how fast the men are moving without completely losing you so you don't know who is doing what.

When it comes to the SFX make-up (no doubt helped by bit of CGI), this is extremely convincing, whether it's the discovery of Joo-yeon’s head, the results of beatings or the impromptu 'surgery' on Kyung-Chul’s Achilles tendon.

The Sound

Given the choice of DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 or LPCM 2.0 stereo, I opted for the former to begin with and found it to be an extremely impressive track with excellent separation, crisp dialogue and excellent use of directional sound. As the latter does not apply to the LPCM 2.0 stereo track which does a great job with the dialogue and most of the sound effects and score so it loses something when it comes to scenes with cars driving at speed or a fight sequence in which the surrounds are used.

The score, by Mowg, is at times unusual but is extremely effective in conveying the mood and emotion when it shifts from drama to suspense and outright horror.

The subtitles are clear and easy to read with only a couple of spelling/grammatical errors that I noticed.

Final Thoughts

I Saw the Devil is an extremely well written, directed and acted film which, in the final few minutes, shows the true nature of revenge and what effects it can have on the victim and killer alike when the roles are reversed. I know that Kim Jee-woon is a fine director from his films The Good, The Bad, The Weird,A Tale of Two Sisters and A Bittersweet Life and he doesn't appear to have lost his touch and I look forward to seeing his next feature. I don't know how much of the film's overall quality is down to screenwriter Hoon-jung Park, but he does an incredible job considering this is his debut film.

Watching the film, I was stunned by the central performances by Choi Min-sik and Byung-hun Lee, even though I knew them both to be great actors. As revenge films go, this is one of the very best I've seen recently.

This is a very good disc of an exceptional film and, though close examination has shown several differences between the Korean version (that made for domestic consumption) and the international version (that made for export) with some sequences of several seconds in one but not the other or in a slightly different order. Having seen the differences, I can't say they would make a huge difference to your overall enjoyment and appreciation of the film but, if you see this version and really enjoy it then you, as I may, will look to import the BD from North America to have both versions. Bizarrely, this disc contains the Korean version rather than that approved by Kim Jee woon for the international audience but, for many, this won't make a great deal of difference.

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