Revenge has always been a popular subject in literature. (Wasn't someone always avenging something in Shakespeare's work?) And as with most things which are big in books, revenge made its way into the movies. From the gangster movie and westerns of the early part of the 20th century to the 1970s, where movies like Death Wish, Straw Dogs, and Rolling Thunder made revenge very vogue. This trend continues to today and, for some reason, revenge is very big in Korea, specifically in the work of Director Chan-wook Park, whose films Oldboy, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, and Lady Vengeance, turned revenge into an art form. Now, Director Jee-woon Kim throws his hat into the ring with I Saw the Devil.

As I Saw the Devil opens, Joo-yeon (San-ha Oh) has a flat tire while driving on a snowy, lonely road. She calls her fiance, government agent Kim Soo-hyeon (Byung-hun Lee) to let him know that she's called a tow truck. A school bus driven by Kyung-chul (Min-sik Choi) stop and he asks if he can be of assistance and Joo-yeon politely declines. Kyung-chul then breaks the windshield, attacks her, and takes her back to his lair, where he kills and dismembers her. Joo-yeon's remains are found a few days later. Joo-yeon's father, Jang (Gook-hwan Jeon), a police official, gives Soo-hyeon information on possible suspects in the case. After assaulting two of the possible perps, Soo-hyeon catches Kyung-chul in the act of attempting to kill a teenaged girl. But, instead of killing the man, or taking him to the authorities, Soo-hyeon begins a plan of vengeance which will rival the madness of the serial killer and which effect many lives.

At the outset, I Saw the Devil seems like any other modern serial killer/torture porn movie. But, around the 40-minute mark, Writer Hoon-jung Park introduces his twist on the genre. Let me put it this way, instead of Seven ending the way that it does now, imagine what would have happened if Brad Pitt's character had let John Doe go, only to continue hunting and terrorizing the man. That's what we get in I Saw the Devil. Soo-hyeon has no interest in justice. We see him easily subdue Kyung-chul and he could have had the man arrested. Instead, he begins a campaign of psychological and physical torture in order to make the man suffer. Given his training as a government agent, Soo-hyeon is able to physically best Kyung-chul and he has technology at his disposal to aid in his quest. Soo-hyeon's mission shows us how warped his morals have become, as he doesn't seem to care if Kyung-chul kills again, just as long as he can have his revenge. Given that, the last act is somewhat predictable, as we know that Soo-hyeon's plan is going to blow up in his face.

This plot twist certainly gives I Saw the Devil a unique touch and makes the film interesting. However, Director Jee-won Kim allows the movie to wander all over the place. I Saw the Devil should have been a lean and mean streamlined action film with psychological overtones. But, at nearly 2 1/2 hours, it feels very bloated and slow. Kim insists on inserting art-house touches where they simply aren't needed and despite the fact that it opens with a murder, the movie takes nearly 20 minutes to truly get off the ground. The story tries too hard at times to be multi-layered, such as when Kyung-chul visits a large house (which could have easily been a hotel) where some cannibals live. These scenes seem out of place, and it's not until I saw the deleted scenes that I understood why he went there. To Kim's credit, the movie has some impressive action sequences -- the scene with the stabbing in a movie car deserves to be watched twice -- but these almost out of place when placed between slow dialogue scenes.

In the end, I Saw the Devil falls short of all of the things which it has going for it. Along with a somewhat new take on the tired serial killer genre, we get strong performances from the actors. Min-sik Choi, who starred in Oldboy and is now on the other side of the pursuit, is disturbingly good as Kyung-chul, as he creates one of the most vile villains in recent memory. This man has no redeeming features, and he's almost proud of that fact. The movie has a nice look and is well-made. But, it's difficult to get past the fact that the movie feels very self-indulgent and some trimming of the excess fat could have turned this into that new Asian film that everyone must see.

I Saw the Devil convinced me that Korean backroads must be just as dangerous as those portrayed in American films on Blu-ray Disc courtesy of Magnolia Home Entertainment. The film has been letterboxed at 1.85:1 and the Disc contains an AVC 1080p HD transfer which runs at an average of 34 Mbps. The image is very sharp and clear, showing no notable grain and no defects from the source material. The image is noticeably crisp and this look gives it a nice amount of depth, most notably in the shots of the deserted roads. The colors look good, especially reds, and the image is never overly dark or bright. The Disc carries a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track which runs at 48 kHz and an average of 2.5 Mbps. The track provides clear dialogue and sound effects. The English subtitles are easy to read. The effects from the front and rear channels are very impressive and the mix between the speakers is always noticeable. The surround sound effects are a bit more subtle, but they really come into play during the action scenes, as do the subwoofer effects. However, these effects never overpower the dialogue.

The I Saw the Devil Blu-ray Disc contains only two extras. We get nine DELETED SCENES which run about 25 minutes. I know what you're thinking, this movie is almost 2 1/2 hours long and there's 25 minutes of deleted scenes?! Well, some of this footage should have been left in, as it gives us a little more insight into Kyung-chul's life and how he knew the cannibal. We also see how Kim Soo-hyeon got his information on the suspects. The other extra is "Raw and Rough: Behind the Scenes of I Saw the Devil" (27 minutes) contains interviews with the filmmakers and a nice amount of behind-the-scenes footage. Much of this piece focuses on the action and stunts in the film. We see how the fights were choreographed and hear about the challenges given the personality differences between the two main characters.