By contrast, Agent Kim is quiet, mostly expressionless (save for that raging-yet-tempered fury in his eyes) and he’s really not the most exciting character to watch (except for when he’s in the midst of a graceful martial arts display). This film embraces the modern obsession with featuring villains as protagonists: we meet Kyung-Chul very early on in the film; there are no illusions that this guy is the killer; he’s a lively and charismatic scene-stealer; and most of the movie’s run time is (wisely) dedicated to following this psycho from one dark encounter to the next.The film gets especially bizarre in the second act when Kyung-Chul attempts to take refuge in a hijacked home with a serial kil hair removal cream ler “pal” of his who also happens to be a cannibal (yeah, you read that right). It is stops like these along this “odyssey” of sorts that will likely distinguish I Saw The Devil as a cult hit. The other thing about the film that will likely burn it into viewers’ minds (for better or worse) is the commitment Ji-woon Kim has to his often off-putting subject matter.There are is a distinctly purposed way in which Kim shot this film, making it grossly intimate at the most disturbing moments possible (Kyung-Chul’s encounter with a young girl in a doctor’s office comes to mind) — but not in a gratuitous way, where there is some deep-seeded thrill at seeing these horrible or violent acts occur onscreen.
