Full Guide to Park Chan-wook's ‘Vengeance Trilogy’: How to Watch It For Free?
Revenge served three ways: Park Chan-wook's trilogy explores the dark and messy reality of vengeance. Here's the full guide to the series.
Park Chan-wook is one of my favorite directors, and The Vengeance Trilogy influenced that opinion greatly.
What’s brilliant: the painfully real and accurate way he treats revenge in each of these movies. Park's avengers don't stand above their victims with a sly grin on their faces. They are real people with nothing left to do but carry out their plans for one reason or another.
How to watch ‘The Vengeance Trilogy’? Since the movies are not interconnected, it's up to you which one to watch first. But here’s the full list of the trilogy in chronological order.
1. ‘Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance’ (2002)
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On Rotten Tomatoes, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance has 53% from critics and 84% from the audience.
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On IMDb, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance is rated 7.5/10.
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance is the first movie of the series and is often considered the most violent one. Those looking for light entertainment or clear heroes and villains will find this film frustratingly obscure. Ryu (a deaf factory worker) kidnaps his former boss' daughter in order to pay for his sister's kidney transplant.
Available on Kanopy, Hoopla and Plex for free.
2. ‘Oldboy’ (2003)
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On Rotten Tomatoes, Oldboy has 82% from critics and 94% from the audience.
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On IMDb, Oldboy is rated 8.3/10.
If you've heard of any Park Chan-wook works, it's probably Oldboy. The middle child of a trilogy, it has become the series' most notable film. Oh Dae-su is kidnapped and imprisoned for 15 years without explanation. After being suddenly released, he has just five days to discover who imprisoned him and why.
Available on Kanopy for free.
3. ‘Lady Vengeance’ (2005)
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On Rotten Tomatoes, Lady Vengeance has 76% from critics and 87% from the audience.
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On IMDb, Lady Vengeance is rated 7.5/10.
In less than 2 hours, the director manages to give us a deep, nuanced exploration of revenge, forgiveness, and the complicated mess in between. Geum-ja is released from prison after serving time for a crime she didn't commit. With a clear goal in mind, she sets out to get revenge.
Available on Kanopy and Plex for free.
