Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance
Movie, 2002, Named by the director, Set in First in the trilogy
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance is #27 of 48 in release order and #7 of 48 in chronological order in the Spiritual Trilogies.
The story
A deaf man and his girlfriend resort to desperate measures in order to fund a kidney transplant for his sister. Things go horribly wrong, and the situation spirals rapidly into a cycle of violence and revenge.
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance recap
Ryu, a deaf factory worker, needs a kidney for his sister, but his blood type does not match. After he loses his job, he trades one of his own kidneys and his savings to black-market organ dealers, who take both and vanish. A legal donor then appears and Ryu cannot pay. His girlfriend Yeong-mi, an anarchist, persuades him to kidnap Yu-sun, the young daughter of Park Dong-jin, the factory owner. The child is treated kindly and they get the ransom. But Ryu's sister learns how the money was raised and kills herself. While Ryu buries her by a river, Yu-sun slips into the water and drowns. Dong-jin, grieving, sells his company to fund his own investigation and traces the kidnappers. Ryu kills the organ dealers. Dong-jin tortures Yeong-mi to death with electricity. It is the first film in Park Chan-wook's Vengeance Trilogy, three films about revenge and the damage it does to everyone in its path.
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance ending explained
Dong-jin drowns Ryu in the river, and then Yeong-mi's comrades kill Dong-jin. Dong-jin rigs Ryu's apartment, knocks him out, and takes him to the river where Yu-sun died. He cuts Ryu's Achilles tendons in the water and lets him drown, then cuts up the body. Members of Yeong-mi's group arrive, stab Dong-jin, pin a note to his chest, and leave him to die.
Post-credits scenes
No. There is no post-credits scene.
Where to watch Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance is streaming on Philo, AMC+, and Shudder in the US.
Ratings
IMDb 7.5/10, Rotten Tomatoes 53%
Where it fits
- Release order: after Cast Away, before Oldboy.
- Chronological order: after The Tenant, before Oldboy.
Cast
- Song Kang-ho as Dong-jin
- Shin Ha-kyun as Ryu
- Bae Doona as Yeong-mi
- Im Ji-eun as Sister
- Han Bo-bae as Yu-Sun
- Lee Dae-yeon as Detective Choi
- Ki Joo-bong as Engineer Peng
- Kim Se-dong as CEO
- Lee Yoon-mi as Boss
- Ryoo Seung-bum as Person with Cerebral Palsy
- Ji Dae-han as Detective Ji
- Heo Jong-su as Detective Heo
Directed by Park Chan-wook.