Lady Vengeance

R

Now Playing

1 hr. 54 min.

Mystery & Thriller

Comedy

Drama

List

76%

88 Reviews

Tomatometer

87%

50,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

Lee Geum-ja (Lee Young-ae) has spent the last 13 years in prison for a murder she didn't commit. She's fantasized about getting revenge on the various people who wronged her, including the police officer (Nam Il-u) who forced her to confess and a shady teacher (Choi Min-sik) with whom she has a checkered past. After her release, she teams up with a group of eccentric friends she made while behind bars and sets out to clear her name and find the daughter she was forced to leave behind.

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Critics Consensus

Stylistically flashy and gruesomely violent, Sympathy for Lady Vengeance fits in nicely with the other two films of Park's revenge trilogy.

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Dick C

It's a Korean movie with a mysterious endings...

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/19/24

Full Review

Nathan H

Gives Oldboy a run for its money as the top revenge movie of all time, certainly in Korean cinema. It delights and surprises, then manages to get around to shocking you, all within a truly interesting concept that feels exceedingly fresh (as does Sympathy for Mr Vengeance even while sharing an underlying plot premise). As with the surrogate audiences in the film represented by the preacher and shop boy, prepare to become obsessed and disillusioned and then obsessed all over again by the enigmatic Lady Vengeance.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/18/24

Full Review

S. C

An amazingly written and directed revenge story filled with incredible performances captured in A+ cinematography. Visually a dream! It looks perfect. The use of color, costumes and the sets alone elevate the narrative and highlight the meaning of sequences in the movie. Everything on screen is very well thought out, like nothing had been wasted. I liked the editing a lot. I loved the snow. The score is beautiful. There's some fun humour in it too, and really nice practical effects. It's all well paced. It makes you feel a variety of strong emotions thanks to the people on- and off-screen. The suspense drops much earlier than expected... however this way it has more time to to focus on the meaning behind the story, thus creating a fully fleshed and satisfying finish.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

09/21/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Just because everything in this movie is unconventional and weird doesn’t make it entertaining to me. Some really disturbing scenes too, maybe the most disturbing I’ve ever seen in a movie. There’s not enough in this movie to make it worth watching.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

06/06/23

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Sara Helena A

it was a good move but it was hard to follow what was going on. i really liked the ending but at the same time it confused me.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

08/08/22

Full Review

dave s

Blackmailed into confessing to a murder she didn't commit, a young woman spends her thirteen years in prison plotting her revenge against the perpetrator. Park Chan-Wook's (of Oldboy fame) Lady Vengeance is a high-octane trip into the worlds of retribution and atonement. It is visually stunning throughout, filled with interesting camera angles, bright color schemes and creative cinematography. Filled with flashbacks, it is sometimes difficult to keep track of the chronology of events or, for that matter, figure out what the relevance of certain scenes are, but it all eventually leads to an unforgettable climax where good ultimately triumphs over evil (or does it?) and justice prevails (again, does it?) While Lady Vengeance may not always make perfect sense, it can never be accused of being dull.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

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Park Chan-wook

Director

Lee Young-ae

Lee Geum-ja

Choi Min-sik

Mr. Baek

Nam Il-u

Det. Choi

Kim Byeong-ok

Preacher Jeon

Kim Bu-seon

Woo So-yeong

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Alyx Vesey

Bitch Media

[Sympathy for Lady Vengeance] far surpasses Oldboy in its ability to dazzle and unnerve.

Jan 5, 2021

Full Review

Brian Tallerico

UGO

What most will take from Lady Vengeance is a director in love with film and the ability to express that passion through the language of his medium.

Mar 24, 2007

Full Review

Bob Longino

Atlanta Journal-Constitution

... as brutal as it is beautiful.

Rated: B+

Aug 6, 2006

Full Review

Howard Feinstein

The Advocate

Lady Vengeance is an electrifying South Korean thriller with a strong female protagonist, a bold color palette, and a healthy dose of dark humor.

May 24, 2022

Full Review

Panos Kotzathanasis

Asian Movie Pulse

Park Chan-wook focused on a female character and created a unique amalgam of black humor, blasphemous irony, extreme violence, which at times, is turned on children, and liberating humanism, chiefly depicted in the final sequence of collective revenge

Apr 6, 2019

Full Review

Nick Rogers

Midwest Film Journal

As a man is made to mediate the terms of his own murder, Park Chan-wook offers a perfect resolution to his "Vengeance" trilogy: an acutely agonizing elegy for whatever shred of humanity is left after the impulse for vengeance has worked itself out.

Rated: 3.5/4

Sep 17, 2010

Full Review

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Synopsis

Lee Geum-ja (Lee Young-ae) has spent the last 13 years in prison for a murder she didn't commit. She's fantasized about getting revenge on the various people who wronged her, including the police officer (Nam Il-u) who forced her to confess and a shady teacher (Choi Min-sik) with whom she has a checkered past. After her release, she teams up with a group of eccentric friends she made while behind bars and sets out to clear her name and find the daughter she was forced to leave behind.

Director: Park Chan-wook
Executive Producer: Miky Lee
Screenwriter: Park Chan-wook, Jeong Seo-kyeong
Production Co: Moho Film
Rating: R (Some Sexuality|Some Involving Children|Strong Violent Content)
Genre: Mystery & Thriller, Comedy, Drama
Original Language: Korean
Rerelease Date (Theaters): May 5, 2006
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 6, 2020
Box Office (Gross USA): $211.7K