I won't be surprised to see hordes of housewives watching Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, given the Korean drama penetration into Asian households, especially the wildly popular Jewel In The Palace starring the same lead actress Lee Youngae. Then again, given the theme on revenge, filled with its fair share of blood and gore, this new movie by Park Chanwook might appeal to just a select few.

It's easy to draw comparisons with Hollywood's recent revenge movie, Quetin Tarantino's Kill Bill. Both stars hot actresses, both movies focus on the same theme, both have children playing an integral part of the protagonist's motivation, and both were essentially screwed by a male baddie. However, Sympathy plays up the stylistic factor, as well as little art-house nuances in delivering sweet revenge.

Lee Youngae plays Lee Geumja, whom we see leaving prison after serving a sentence of 13 years for kidnap and murder. Or is it? Framed and blackmailed by her collaborators, she bears the brunt of the responsibility and blame, which sent her packing to jail. Naturally she swears vengeance upon the mastermind of the dastardly deeds, as hell as knoweth no fury like a woman who's really angry.

Playing up biblical moments in the movie by symbolizing Geumja as a devil in angel's clothing (or vice versa, depending on how you want to look at it),the movie intersperses narrative moments with essential flashbacks to her life in prison. On one hand, she's the angel to newcomers who protects them from the bad prison cell mama-san, while on the other, she's the devil who's plotting murder on the sly. She gains respect from these inmates, who play important roles when Geum-ja is released, to exact her 13 year revenge plan. One of the best scenes in demonstrating this was the making of her twin-trigger handgun, translating poetic justice straight from the pages of a suture.

The final showdown is different from Kill Bill's, without the monotonous monologue, and the imaginary Five Point Exploding Heart Palm technique. Here, it's brutal, it's violent, and somehow, satisfactory. Revenge is a dish best served cold, but only enjoyable when share with a group of like-minded diners, to classical Vivaldi music. The final 20 minutes of the show makes an interesting conversation and analytical piece, so I would not spoil anything here.

While at times the movie does plod along, it depended heavily on Youngae to shoulder this film through its slower moments. I'm not sure why, but somehow through the many close-ups, I find she has aged quite a lot from her JSA days.

Make no mistake, this film might not be for all to bear. Those who are expecting numerous gunfights and explosions will be disappointed, as Geumja does not roar and rampage like what Beatrix did. But when she finally does, in artistic style, all can be forgiven.

This is a very interesting film but in my opinion it is only partially successful. It is stylishly and imaginatively shot which is its main virtue. This virtue should not be underestimated as it kept my interest throughout and hugely increased the overall appeal of the film. It is an odd and very dark story, but quite an intriguing plot. The imagination of style is, it seems, combined with the director's intention to imbue the film with great substance and meaning. However, this aspect was somewhat lost on me. I feel it is a very empty film morally and emotionally, which may be the intention, but this does not appeal to me and is, surely, a very acquired taste.

Scenes involving relatives of murdered children watching tapes of their children being tortured fail to make me believe in the slightest that they have suffered loss at all, let alone the horror of seeing their own child being tortured. The sequence where those relatives torture the child killer is equally cold, empty and unrealistic. How could the survival of their victim be ensured for each of them to have a turn when each of them inflicts life threatening injuries?! All the characters and the whole story are so cold that I could not care less who lives, dies, wins or loses anyway by the end! This film is very interesting and well shot but not at all emotionally involving and I failed to see the point the director is trying to make about revenge or anything else.

I am not sure if it's just my luck or that the Korean films they import to the US are mostly violent or if South Korean films in general are so brutal. All I know is that I have seen a huge percentage of films from this nation that turned me off because they were so violent. Perhaps this is an after-effect of their brutal civil war and this society is more accepting of extreme violence, but I have so far found too many of these films practically unwatchable for me because I don't enjoy bloody films in most cases (there are definite exceptions such as many of Tarantino's films as well as the brilliant "Tucker and Dale Vs. Evil"). Perhaps I am just looking at the wrong Korean films and there are many more without such violent themes. All I know is that although "Lady Vengeance" is well made, I had to speed through some parts because they were just nasty.

The film begins with a lady being released from prison after spending 13 years there for murdering a child. She'd become the model prisoner after converting to Christianity but soon you see it's all a ruse to get early release. She is determined to carry out a very violent act of revenge--though it takes quite a while for the film to get there. In the meantime, you learn about her life through flashbacks and realize that she confessed to this crime yet she did NOT commit it. In the end, the man behind all this is brutally killed in a very slow and painful manner. I could say a lot more about this but don't want to spoil the suspense. And, I must at least acknowledge that the man really, really, really had it coming and there was a part of me that felt satisfied to have him die. But I did NOT need to see it.

If you like ultra-violent films, then by all means watch this. It is well done and is not as gratuitous as some films. I just can't recommend it, as it made me feel icky watching it.