The Vengeance Trilogy by Park Chan-wook

Park Chan-wook

The Vengeance Trilogy by Park Chan-wook consists of three films viz. Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance (2002), Oldboy (2003) and Sympathy For Lady Vengeance (2005). Originally these three films were not planned as a trilogy but the two films(OldBoy and Sympathy For Lady Vengeance) followed Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance as spiritual successors. Themes of revenge, violence and salvation are found commonly in these three films.
These three are Korean films but were well received and appreciated all over the world.

Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance (2002), was the first film in the trilogy.  It dealt with the kidnapping of a small girl of a wealthy businessman by a deaf-mute man, Ryu. Ryu does this with the help of his girlfriend, Yeong-mi, a radial anarchist. Ryu does this to help his ailing sister who is in desperate need for a kidney transplant. During Ryu's earlier attempt to raise money he is conned by a gang who steal his own kidney and loot him. Ryu swears for a revenge on them and later kills them.
Also the kidnapping goes wrong and the small girl is killed. Meanwhile Ryu's sister dies too. The girl's father swears a revenge on Ryu and his girlfriend and thus his quest for vengeance begins.


OldBoy (2003), the second movie in the trilogy was an epic in the history of Korean cinema.
The movie starts with a common man Oh Dae-su, who is kidnapped one night and held captive in a small motel room for the next fifteen years without letting him know the reason for it. After releasing him, he is set free to live. He meets a young chef Mi-do and things spark out between the two. Oh Dae-su is then told to find out why he was captured for fifteen years or else his new love interest will be killed.
And now Oh Dae-su begins to unravel his past at the same time killing off the people who have caused him misery all these years.The strange past and the more shocking present when merges up at the end gives a gruesome picture to the viewer and makes one to think.


Sympathy For Lady Vengeance (2005), the third film in the trilogy deals with a woman who has been in prison for murdering a school boy. She was innocent and framed by the real killer who had kidnapped her newly born daughter. After she comes out all she is wants is to get reunited with her daughter and kill the real killer, Mr. Baek. The plot she plans to kill him with the help of others she can trust and her daughter role's in it is simply awesome.
Her quest for vengeance becomes difficult when Mr. Baek learns of it. He becomes more aware and treacherous. He goes on to become so dangerous that he kills his own wife on learning that she is involved in the plot against him.
The ending of the film is so greatly done and the explanation of purity touches heart.


These three are some of the finest Korean films and a must watch for lovers of thriller genre. Language will not be a barrier when you watch it because the films are executed and portrayed so well that just subtitles would do the job. Certainly not for the people with a soft or weak heart. The violence and the quest for vengeance depicted is gruesome, realistic and breath-taking.