Review: Director Park Chan-wook continues on his grand slam spree with another tale of revenge, this time transcending the idea of personal vengeance to one that encompasses a larger range of group necessity. The film, much like the rest of Park's body of work, sports a supple skin. LADY VENGEANCE is visually arresting at times; from the bright white opening credits tinged with darkness like a capillary bursting on white cotton as it hangs out to dry, to the stark contrast of the film's finale. The story the cinematography ices itself over is a slow burner, revealing itself gradually like a pair of legs popping out seductively from behind a curtain.

In essence, this film is a culmination of the thematically intertwined yet narratively unrelated trilogy. The three sit as bowls of porridge on a mammoth kitchen table and, if SYMPATHY FOR MR. VENGEANCE is ice cold in its execution, OLDBOY is the searing heat to LADY's just-right. This is, of course, speaking more on the subject matter than the actual quality of each film, because with each of these Park has woven three very classy and distinct tales of revenge.

Bearing with the awkward Goldilocks analogy, Lee Young-ae as Lee Geum-ja is the embodiment of this middle-ground between hot and cold. She carries more emotions through her crimson eye shadow than in her actions and reactions to what must be done. The movie's title is appropriate in that she has become her own mission. Just as the gun she has built requires a particular aesthetic essence, so does the vehicle with which justice will be executed. There's a nice combination of patience and I'll-sleep-when-I'm-dead stubbornness in her performance, and her character almost seems to radiate more as she nears her goal.

Even Choi Min-sik echoes the movie's atmosphere in his performance. While his role in LADY VENGEANCE is absolutely sadistic, he plays it with a frozen normalcy that only serves to heighten the twisted nature of Teacher Baek. He's not the only alumni from other Park films here, either. In the main cast, for example, you'll also see OLDBOY's Lee Seung-shin and Oh Dal-su (pardon the painful memories of pulling teeth) filling in roles. Viewers will even recognize the lady herself from Park's 2000 hit, JOINT SECURITY AREA.

Throughout all of the darkness, Park still manages to inject the film with healthy doses of subtle humor and gorgeous visuals. The editing in the movie is especially full of plays on transitions that range from somewhat awkward to truly clever, but the careful way that everything comes together is a reminder that the filmmakers put an immense amount of care into the final product.

LADY is also notable for the way it handles violence. Relatively speaking, more of the violence here occurs off-screen than its predecessors. In the context of certain scenes, this has a more profound effect than serving it up on a visual platter of gore for the audience to wow over. Park is very careful with what he does and doesn't show us in the most intense moments, and the result is something that becomes a bit more personal considering the situation. In a similar vein, it wouldn't be wise to go into any more detail here, as it's a movie that you'll enjoy more the less you know.

LADY VENGEANCE is a seal of red lipstick on Park's vitriolic series of vengeance. It's a movie that's open to repeat viewings and, most importantly, is just plain fun to watch. Park Chan-wook won't have any trouble being remembered considering his already well-respected oeuvre, but this trilogy will certainly go down as some of the finest filmmaking to come out of world cinema in this decade.