The Host

The verdict: A light-hearted monster movie from Korea, but the occasional laughs are outweighed by a meandering, ponderous storyline.

The rating: 5/10

Ah yes, the monster movie. Hollywood has churned out it's fair share of em, and Asian cinema is probably renowned for the genre. But it's been more than a few years since the threat of a big bad monster could capture the imagination of cinema audiences on the scale of some of the recent Hollywood Cinematic behemoths. So, while 'Transformers' brazenly rakes in the box office takings, a fun monster movie like 'Slither' humbly sneaks into the DVD bargain bin with nary a whimper.

The movie critics may bemoan this fact, studied as they are in the history of trashy cinema from 1950's Hollywood and Japan, where monster movies were a staple of the art. However, this style of movie harks back to a simpler time, when broadband was a type of y-front waistline, and a gigabyte was something Gojira did to Mothra. The heyday of monster movies recalls a time when going to the movies of a Saturday was an event, and seeing Godzilla trash a cardboard city on the big screen was new and exciting. These days, we mock poor special effects, used as they are even in music videos.. (such as this Beastie Boys classic) No, in the 21st century, we like our monsters to be real, and if possible, graphically violent, if the huge success of the recent crop of 'torture porn' style horror movies is anything to go by.

The Host is an old-school monster movie, in that the monster isn't simply attacking and killing innocent victims. In this type of monster movie, the creature is created by humans, and simply tries to survive. Godzilla was a product of nuclear explosions, but this creature is caused by an altogether more mundane human failing, when chemicals are dumped into Seoul's Han river.

Rather than building tension as to what the monster looks like, or perhaps give us the occasional night-time glimpse for the first half an hour or so, the makers of 'The Host' take the ballsy approach of revealing the creature in the first ten minutes of the movie. This scene is one of the best in the film, where the creature goes on a large-scale river-side rampage, trashing all in it's wake.

The plot centres around the hapless Gang-Du, played by the ever-versatile Kang Ho-Song. This guy has really mixed it up over the years, and features in two previous reviews from PCMR's Asian Season: 'Shiri' the popcorn cop flck, and 'Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance' the nightmarish revenge fable. In this movie, Kang Ho-Song's character is something of a loser and a dimwit, but as we learn later, there's a reason for his dopey ways. He lives with his young daughter, athlete sister and browbeaten father in a trailer by the bank of the Han river selling snacks, the Korean equivalent of an ice-cream truck I guess, if the ice-cream was fried squid that is.

Aanyway, Gang-Du's daughter Hanseo, is taken by the creature, and he has to get her back. And therein lies the story of 'The Host'. His sister's archery skills come in handy, as do his father's wiles (and life savings) and eventually the creature is faced down.

The creature itself is done well, and the scenes where it rampages through the crowds are excellent, but there is far to much of the movie where the monster isn't even a threat. Also, there is a lot of comedy in this movie, and I'm afraid the effect of it was lost on me a little, given that I was watching the dubbed version, and all the male characters sounded quite similar (rounded and well pronounced generic american accents... tsk).

So the tension is created with the reveal of the monster, but relieved once we find out Hanseo is alive. From that moment on, the movie just seemed to meander. In a format as tried and tested as this, there needs to be a few surprises involved to hold the interest of the audience, and, sadly, there weren't many to be found in this movie.

There was a lot of hype surrounding the release of 'The Host' on these shores, but sadly, in my opinion, the strong opening scenes promise much but deliver little, and this film is ultimately a little more Godzuki than Godzilla.

Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance

The Verdict: Dark, unflinching, and relentless thriller from the man who brought us 'Oldboy'. This nightmarish spiral of revenge will leave you meek and sobbing in the foetal position, begging for the 'Shrek' DVD to be put on before you go to bed.

Craziness: Bloody, revenge-fuelled violence, and lots of it. Let's see, there's suicide, drowning, electrical torture, arterial spray, baseball bats, organ theft and self-mutilation... (So it's not a kid's movie then - Ed)

The Rating: 6/10


One of Chan-Wook Park's more recent movies somewhat unfairly hit the headlines over the last few months in the wake of a spree killing in the United States, where the perpetrator was pictured imitating certain images from the film. For those of you yet to see 'Oldboy', I recommend two things: first, you should prepare yourself mentally for what will be a psychologically jarring couple of hours. Then, give it a watch when you think you're ready. You won't be ready though, because 'Oldboy' is a monster, albeit a brilliant one.

There is a similar theme of revenge running through the predecessor to 'Oldboy', and indeed, the follow-up, named 'Sympathy for Lady Vengeance'. In this, monikered his 'revenge trilogy', Park takes an unflinching look at the basic human impulse for revenge and the effects of extreme emotional trauma and wrong-doing on otherwise normal people.

There are two main plot threads in Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance. The first follows deaf-mute Ryu (Ha-Kyun Shin), who is caring for his ill sister in their crummy one-bedroomed apartment. She is in urgent need of a kidney transplant and requires constant care. An chain of events leads Ryu to the desperate situation where he considers more unconventional means of acquiring thre required kidney for his sister. There's a very foreboding moment where Ryu is using a public toilet, and his eye is drawn to a poster reading simply: 'organs for sale'. You just get the feeling that things aren't going to go well for him after that, and they certainly don't.

After that episode, Ryu ends up being offered a genuine hospital transplant, but has no money to pay for it. His girlfriend Yeong-Mi (Du Na-Bae) persuades him to consider kidnapping his former boss's six-year-old daughter, considering he got laid off from his factory job recently. She is convinced they can pull off the kidnapping in a good way. Simply take the kid, demand the required 26 million won (that's roughly €20,000 - Ed), and return the kid, unharmed, without involvement from the cops.

If only things were that simple. When an accident results in the young girl's death, a chain of events is set in motion that sends the two men, Ryu and his former boss, Mr. Park (Kang-Ho Song) on a spiralling spree of revenge that eventually culminates in their meeting, not before much blood has been spilt along the way.

Chan-Wook Park carefully constructs this chain of events to convince the audience that these characters motives for revenge are pure. In both cases the protagonists are not bad guys, not even particularly hard men. This is not Steven Seagal the firefighter, taking on the crime organisation to avenge the death of his wife and kid, but bizarrely it is in the same ball park. The difference is in the realism, both in the construction of the protagonists' relative motives for revenge, and also in the graphically illustrated situations that ensue. Park does not offer his characters or the audience the luxury of a dry witty one-liner when his 'heroes' dispatch their nemeses. Instead, they are plunged deeper into the darkness that has pushed them to that point in the first place, and the audience is pulled along with them.

Let me follow Chan-Wook Park's example and make it explicit: 'Sympathy for Mr. Vengenace' is not for the faint-hearted. It is loaded with nightmarish images, dark events, and an ending that will not send you home with a smile on your face. If you thought 'Se7en' was dark, then you may rethink your mental categories after watching this one. However, the level of intelligence in the construction of those two movies is congruent.

The most extreme movie I have ever seen to this point is a certain 'Irréversible'. That movie is one I would not even think of recommending, simply because it takes the audience to the darkest places where movies really have no right to. With the narrative unfolding in reverse, the end at the beginning and vice versa, the violence in that movie begins in the first ten minutes with the most graphic murder sequence I have ever seen on celluloid. Vincent Cassel's character's motives for the killing are revealed as the movie unfolds in reverse, but even at the end (beginning) I was left feeling disgusted with the film, and wholly unrewarded for putting myself through the experience. There was a little of the same feeling with 'Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance', but at least I got the impression that the two main characters were somewhat justified in their relative quests for revenge. In both cases, the titles suit the subject material perfectly, and in both cases, the violence is very very graphic.

Of note is one special effect which I have never seen done quite so well elsewhere. When one of the genuine 'bad men' realises he has been stabbed in an artery, there is a dramatic close up of the wound, with the artery shown pulsing behind the wound, the knife still lodged. His compatriot warns him "it's in an artery, don't pull it out..." You can guess the rest...

And yes, folks, this is an indication of what's on offer with Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance. It's not going to be everyone's cup of tea, and definitely not one for a quiet night in with the wife, or the kids, or granny and grandad (unless you want to traumatise your loved ones.) However, if dark cinema is your cup of tea, and you like your movies intelligent, well-crafted, and a little bit on the bloody and violent side, then this one may be for you. I can honestly say it is adrenaline-fueled in the same manner as 'Oldboy', if not at the same level of quality.

So this is 'Asia Extreme'. Bloody hell, I'm not sure if I'm going to survive this Asian Season! Still have Takashi Miike's movies to get through, and 'Ichi the Killer' is in there... might have to counteract this stuff with a Disney season afterwards or something, just to balance things out a little! (Wimp - Ed)