Lady Vengeance (2005/Tartan DTS)
Picture:
B- Sound: B- Extras: C Film: C
Chan-wook Park made such an international splash with his
previous critical and commercial success Oldboy
(reviewed elsewhere on this site) that many did not know it was part of a
revenge trilogy. Since Quentin Tarantino finished his Kill Bill films recently, what could Park possible come up
with? Did he wait too long? Should he have quit while he was ahead? Lady
Vengeance (2005) may have been planned years ago for all we know, but it
plays like the end of long cycle that should have ended and maybe before this
film was made.
A woman
(Young-ae Lee) is released from prison after an unlucky 13 years. Now, she wants to get even with the person
who did commit the crime she was accused of and will not stop at just that
individual. Unfortunately, the film is
so caught up in its overkill that we quickly loose sympathy for her, could care
less in general, anything that is supposed to be darkly funny is not and the
film’s fascination with blood of blood of blood is tired more than anything
else. It fits into the current “snuff”
cycle of Horror films without being as effective and having as little point,
though it did not have to be that way.
Though
this critic was not as big a fan of Oldboy as some
others have been, it was a more solid piece of work. This seems very anticlimactic, dull and never
really goes anywhere. After its 112
minutes, you are left asking, why? All
the talent is wasted on a film that may have some style, but never takes off
and can only waddle in blood almost literally.
Screen blood has never been so tired, though still gross, while any sex
or beating sequences do not break the monotony either.
The
anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 image is often soft, but color makes up for
that enough to still enjoy it. The film
is interested in reminding us of the Lady
Snowblood films (reviewed elsewhere on this site) and darker thrillers of
late that have often not worked. Chung-hoon
Chung did the cinematography and it is pretty good, but the darker shots
override the better ones and that hurts the film in the long run. The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix and better DTS 5.1
mix have too much of their sound in the front three speakers, with only some
music and sound effects making it to the surrounds. The sound also sounds a bit compressed for
such a new film.
Extras
are extensive and include three audio commentary tracks (one with Park, one
with Chung, Park & the Art Director and one with critic Richard Pena), on
camera Park interview, trailers and a making of featurette. Even if you land up agreeing with this
critic, there is plenty of other material to go through. If you like it, than you’ll really be happy
with this disc.
- Nicholas Sheffo
