Chinjeolhan geumjassi 2005

Critics score:
74 / 100

Reviews provided by RottenTomatoes

Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune: A film with the capacity to both sicken and delight, a dark thriller with an obsessive, shocking story, shot in gorgeous images that heighten the gruesomeness and horror of what they reveal. Read more

Jeff Shannon, Seattle Times: Apart from Park's impressive but ultimately hollow style (his images are impeccably composed and visually inventive), Lady Vengeance is still an exercise in wretched excess (though less extreme than its predecessors). Read more

G. Allen Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle: Powered by a glowering performance by actress Lee Young Ae, it is a walloping tale. Read more

Bob Longino, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: ... as brutal as it is beautiful. Read more

Noel Murray, AV Club: The whole process adds up to a fairly impressive two-stage thrill ride, Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: For once Park has stopped smirking long enough to consider the practical point of violence in a way that's pertinent to his own gruesome cinematic pursuits. Read more

Bruce Westbrook, Houston Chronicle: Squanders plot impetus, and even with constant crosscutting it's lethargically paced, slogging through soap-operatic back stories and maddening irrelevancies. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: [An] inflammatory, inimitable movie inventory of hell on earth. Read more

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: While Lady Vengeance is not quite as devastating or brilliantly plotted as Oldboy, it's still a solid punch to the soft stomach of the modern crime thriller. Read more

Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News: The films strain to present some kind of moral compass, a philosophy of revenge's human toll. But in the end, their sadistic glee in creative bloodshed trumps all. Read more

Scott Foundas, L.A. Weekly: This is OldBoy or Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance redux, with the minor twist of a female protagonist, which only makes the movie seem that much more of a cut-rate Kill Bill clone. Read more

Jan Stuart, Newsday: Lady Vengeance dazzles us with cinematic savoir-faire, but it is ultimately as cold, calculating and contradictory as its anti-heroine. Read more

Ken Tucker, New York Magazine/Vulture: South Korean director Park Chan-wook's tremendous conclusion to his Vengeance trilogy is a modern classic. Read more

Jami Bernard, New York Daily News: The last of director Park Chanwook's revenge trilogy, Sympathy for Lady Vengeance is another astonishing achievement of slasher-style justice, moral tussles, and eye-candy design ... Read more

Andrew Sarris, New York Observer: In the end Geum-ja emerges as a stirring feminist icon... Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Chan-wook has examined many aspects of the concept of revenge, including the most lasting: consequences. For many movies, the act of retribution is the point of the film. For Chan-wook, it's the starting point for a larger tapestry. Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: For anyone else interested in one of the most skillful and startling directors today, Vengeance is worth bracing yourself for. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: Operating on many emotional and visceral levels, and occasionally shifting from reality into fantasy, the film demands complete attention, even if the shocking images often make the viewer want to look away. Read more

Ben Walters, Time Out: Pound-of-flesh cinema, you might say. Read more

Time Out: Read more

Derek Elley, Variety: Read more

Michael Atkinson, Village Voice: Lady Vengeance is his most sullen and patient film, and yet it's breathless pop filmmaking, narratively mercurial, viscerally traumatic, and thematically infernal. Read more

Stephen Hunter, Washington Post: If Lady Vengeance is just a slick cheap thrill, it also boasts extraordinary performances and unusually skillful, eerily beautiful production. Read more