Entertaining and visually gripping, but something's missing

Rating: Null/10 (18 November 2004)

Just saw it, and it didn't bore me a single second. Still a bit of counterpoint to the raves here might be in order (though a couple of others have done so already). The visuals were great, the acting top of the top-shelf, and the premise very promising. But maybe just a bit too promising.
The basic idea is great in its claustrophobic simplicity : locked away, but why and by whom? The plot does not follow the usual developments, i.e. you soon know by whom. This in itself is not a problem, but the thing is that the plot from then on becomes a warm-up for the twist. Now I don't care much about twists anymore. Building up the suspense... like listening to a romantic symphony ending (often lasts 5 full minutes). As a consequence, the final "kabam!" (finding out that you f***ed your daughter) comes a bit as "so what?" because at that point the style has taken over from the story. At a point you stop caring about the characters. Why? because you don't get a clear view of how he is still caring about his daughter before the revelation; because the flashbacks are too superficial to feel what the characters then must have felt - the final one is over-pathetic.
Still I thought the last twist was the better one, and hardly anyone talks about that one! Because it refocuses on the film's main theme, which is not so much revenge as the nature and use(ful)(les)ness of memory. The whole idea was for the brother and sister to commit suicide together! As she says "if you're afraid, just let me go" - and he does chicken out and lets her go (although very unwillingly). So at this point he realises that he too has played a role, not so much of letting her go, but of chickening out on his sister in the final hour. The fact that the main character cuts his tongue off for his daughter kind of confronts him with what he himself couldn't... I guess...
I guess, because the final monologue in the penthouse is rather confusing and doesn't seem to do justice to the build-up of the movie. A little bit of moderation would have done miracles. The emotions of the characters jump around so much that the twist drowns in it, and the grand finale, despite being somewhat unpredictable comes off as something you knew all along, nothing special.
But all this aside, it is among the better revenge movies with a memory-thing (what do these asians have with memory?!)... still could have been much better had style & form not gotten the better of the story development in the end.
If you need an additional push to go see, know that Hye-jeong Kang is one of those exceptionally beautiful women that only Leonard Cohen can say something reasonable about. Miss her at your peril!