'Sympathy' far from sympathetic

SYMPATHY FOR MR. VENGEANCE — * 1/2 — Shin Ha-kyun, Song Kang-ho, Bae Du-na; in Korean, with English subtitles; rated (violence, gore, profanity, sex, torture, nudity, vulgarity, brief drugs).

Judging by his movies, you have to wonder if South Korean filmmaker Chan-wook Park has some serious issues with women and children.

His now-infamous cult hit "Oldboy," and its predecessor, the revenge-thriller "Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance" (which is finally seeing theatrical release in the United States), both feature enough scenes of women and children being tortured and murdered to disturb even the most hardened deviant.

While there's no denying that Park has strong visual skills, his content so far is in appalling bad taste.

Like "Oldboy," "Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance" is so over-the-top violent that the experience feels almost like watching "Faces of Death."

"Mr. Vengeance" initially follows Ryu (Shin Ha-kyun), a hearing-impaired young man who is driven to desperate measures to ensure that his sister (Lim Ji-Eun) gets a much-needed kidney transplant. Ryu and his anarchist girlfriend (Bae Du-na) kidnap the daughter of his former boss (Song Kang-ho), hoping that he'll give them the money needed to barter with black marketeers and organ-harvesters.

Unfortunately, the kidnapping goes awry and sets off a whole series of bloody acts of retribution, as both Park and Ryu seek vengeance.

Though the film does contain the word "sympathy" in its title, few if any of the characters here are sympathetic. And the things they do are repellent enough to cause genuine queasiness in viewers.

Perhaps that's what Park intended, but it's hard to imagine that many moviegoers will want to subject themselves to something this morally sketchy — despite the credible performances turned in by both the male leads.

"Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance" is rated R for strong scenes of violence (including stabbings, beatings, vehicular violence and violence against women), some fairly gruesome gore, occasional use of strong sexual profanity, simulated sex and other sexual contact, a scene of torture, some nudity (including glimpses of nude photos), some crude humor (sexual in nature), and some brief drug content (including hypodermic use). Running time: 121 minutes.

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E-mail: jeff@desnews.com