This film somehow appears to remain the least discussed part of Park Chan-wook's vengeance trilogy, which might just be down to having more in common with the first installment Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002) and its more bleak, down-to-earth tone than with the action-packed crowdpleaser that was Oldboy (2003). It's a hard watch for sure, but so are both other films, right? I remember having felt a bit disappointed as well when i first saw Lady Vengeance back then. In retrospect though, this is a perfectly logical conclusion for the trilogy. Mr. Vengeance was all about a neverending spiral of grief and bloody, violent revenge. Oldboy then was all concerned with the adrenaline rush and obsessive quest for vengeance itself, blown up into a larger-than-life fantasy. Lady Vengeance feels like the inevitable hangover following the blood rush, confronting cinema's obsession with violent acts of revenge and the elusive sense of salvation and closure they promise and fail to deliver in the real world outside of the silver screen. Another painful, sobering gut punch, this one.