Blu-ray Movie Reviews

"Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance": Unable to afford proper care for his sister dying from kidney failure, Ryu turns to the black market to sell his own organs only to end up cheated of his life savings. His girlfriend urges Ryu to kidnap the daughter of wealthy industrialist Dong-jin, who recently laid him off. Ryu agrees, but unforeseen tragedies turn an innocent con into a merciless quest for revenge. Bound by their personal losses and deep-seated anger, the two men are thrust into a spiral of destruction. "Oldboy": Oh Dae-su is an ordinary Seoul businessman with wife and little daughter who. After a drunken night on the town, is abducted and locked up in a strange and private "prison." No one will tell him why he's there and who his jailer is and his fury builds to a single-minded focus of revenge. 15 years later, he is unexpectedly freed, given a new suit, a cell-phone and 5 days to discover the mysterious enemy who had him imprisoned. Seeking vengeance on all those involved, he soon finds that his enemy's tortures are just beginning. "Lady Vengeance": After being wrongfully convicted of kidnapping and murdering a young child, a beautiful young woman is imprisoned for 13 years and forced to give up her own daughter. While in prison she gains the respect and loyalty of her fellow cellmates, all the while plotting her vendetta on the man responsible . Upon her release she sets in motion an elaborate plan of retribution, but what she discovers is a truth so horrifying, even revenge doesn't seem punishment enough.

Park Chan Wook’s Vengeance Trilogy is an astounding piece of Korean cinema and long overdue to the Blu-ray format. Each film deals with the same themes, but each stands alone in story and characters and delivers a powerful and at times disturbing look at revenge and its roots. The first two films are my favorite and Oldboy, the second in the series, has become quite popular. The third film, Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, was the weakest of the trilogy in my opinion, but still manages to be quite effective and chilling. If you haven’t had the chance to see these films yet I highly recommend checking them out.

Tartan had previously released Oldboy on Blu-ray early on in the format. This new boxset is a bit of a disappointment when it comes to that film but shines for the others. Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance both look outstanding. The source prints seem to be in superb shape and detail and depth are excellent. The third film also features both cuts with fade to black and white at the end. Oldboy, despite being the most popular of the series, looks identical to the previous release, which isn’t that great. Detail and depth aren’t nearly as good as the other two transfers. Definition is lacking and the image has a washed out and processed look to it. They’ve also decided to leave out the previously included DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 mix and cripple the release with only a lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 EX option, while the other two films have DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mixes. Tartan should have done a new encode and clean up of Oldboy, especially considering its popularity within the series. This is clearly a case of cutting corners, even compared to the previous release which at least featured a high resolution audio option. Hopefully Oldboy will be revisited and given the attention and respect it deserves.

Each film contains quite number of extras. From multiple feature commentaries to behind the scenes looks at the production. Interviews, trailers, deleted scenes are also on tap. Each film literally contains a few hours of extras that delve into the making of the film.

I’m a huge fan of this series and I’m happy to see Tartan return to the Blu-ray fold. This boxset is available for a pretty low price making it an easy recommendation but I’m pretty disappointed to see how poorly Oldboy was handled compared to the other films. Hopefully Tartan will revisit this one soon.