4 out of 5

Director: Chan-wook Park

Repeating and tying in themes from the first two vengeance films, Lady Vengeance is the shortest of the batch, and perhaps the most straight-forward, but also the least comprehensive. The tracing of revenge here focuses on Lee Geum-ja, who has just been released from a long jail stint for killing a five-year old boy. Blessed for her angelic actions behind bars, friends who were also previously incarcerated join up with Geum-ja to take revenge on… someone. As was the case with the prior two in this trilogy, part of the experience of the film is taking the wayward path to understand the motivations of its characters. In this case, Lee is both more and less innocent than she seems. The direction the plot takes is truly surprising, and less spiraling, in a way, than either Mr. Vengeance or Oldboy – while it does take a turn later on, Lady Vengeance is primarily a straight line. However, it is due to this focus that it loses some of the effect of its filmic brothers… Indirectly. Directly, some of the scenes in this movie are incredibly powerful. It just doesnt have the lingering feeling of the first two. As has happened over Parks career, he becomes technically more inventive with the look of his films… its balanced here, but his surrealistic temptations and attempts to give this film more closure (…than, again, the other two) feel sloppy and unnecessary. The translation scenes are particularly cheesy, but thats what happens. A very satisfying combination and circling of plotlines and theme, if less openly thought-provoking than the prior entries.