Setelah selama bertahun-tahun, dengan tanpa perasaan bersalah gw “menikmati” dan mencoba “mencerna” banyak film2 extreme and gory, pertama kalinya gw nemuin film setipe dengan tingkat emotional sekeren I SAW THE DEVIL.

Say what you want about Korean Entertainment, with all their lame stupid k-pop music, and empty-shelled murahan corny sinetron2 mereka, but their silver screen production is always in a top notch. I’ve enjoy thoroughly film2 modern korea kaya Oldboy, A Hard Day, New World, No Tears from the dead, or even that damn sappy Man in Love. Gw masih belom bisa nemuin film2 Korea MODERN yang jelek, walo belom banyak juga sih yang gw tonton. And it’s really really hard for me to say, but Modern Japanese movie ain’t got shit on them. This is their golden era.

I SAW THE DEVIL  definitely bukan buat penggemar film2 dorama korea, bukan buat penggemar thriller2 lemah gemulai cantik syahrini macem gone girl or even oldboy. In short, I SAW THE DEVIL is a very very brutal revenge thriller. Kalo yang gak suka violence, non-mainstream ending, and konsekuensi masuk akal yang jarang banget terdapat in every kind of movie,  stay the fuck away dari I SAW THE DEVIL.

If you like movie like Spoorloss, Irreversible, Funny Games, elu bakal ngerasa at home with this movie, albeit I SAW THE DEVIL lebih kerasa aura komersilnya sih dibanding film2 diatas. AH FUCK it, kalo lu penggemar great movie, and gak takutan easily, you’re going to love this movie..

The story itself lebih kerasa noir revenge-nya sih, walo eksekusinya tetep aja modern-ish banget with clear cut and fast editing, bukan typical2 film artsy pantsy dah. Tokoh utamanya, si special agent, pacarnya yang hamil dibunuh ama seorang serial killer. Dan si special agent-nya ini dendam banget dan nyari siapa sih yang berani fuck around with my life. And then he found him, dan akhirnya gantian bales dendam dengan cara2 yang intricate, slow and painful.  Kebanyakan film2 kaya gini biasanya ends when the serial killer is getting caught, but in I SAW THE DEVIL, the fun is only just begun when si asshole ketangkep. Sayangnya, bales dendem hanya akan menghasilkan dendam lagi, dan ujung2nya ya madness will only bring madness. Just like the Harvey Dent says, either you die a hero, or live long enough to become a villain. The Hunter become the hunted, vice versa, and that’s going to fuck all the world around both of them.

I SAW THE DEVIL is one of the masterpiece of this genre. Why? Because unlike most movie in this genre yang cenderung udah ngasi cap item atau putih dan meneruskan plot2nya without furthering evolving the character, I SAW THE DEVIL is the rare instance where kedua karakter utamanya saling berkembang, saling mengalahkan, saling menggilai, dan akhirnya bikin kita as a viewer mikir, what the fuck? Is it right for him to do that? Who’s the real killer anyway? And how come that good guy could do that, apa sih kerjaan dia sebenernya? And lots, lots, and lots question yang bakal nimbul di otak lu. And that’s because of the performance of 2 aktor gila. The special agent itself, sebenernya nothing really special. Silent, gak bacot banyak, typical2 asian Clint Eastwood gitu lah, but you can really feel his pain, and his madness when everything around him is destroyed. The last shot of him is crazy good. But the serial killer, ho ho ho, he is god. One of the greatest villain and serial killer that exist in the silver screen in terms of Crazy emotion. If the Joker in TDK is an opportunist brilliantly chaotic asshole, Lecter is a genius calculatic cannibal psychopath, The protagonist(if we can call him that) in I SAW THE DEVIL is the Brutal chainsaw fuckup disturbing without remorse insane type. Pas dia tau dia di hunt ama orang lain, dia tuh kaya marah2 gila gak jelas gitu, but by the time he regains his self control, that’s when the acting comes through. The way he explain his madness is one of the most brilliant acting I’ve ever see in my whole life!

I SAW THE DEVIL gak takut naekin level gory and extreme, mentally and physically setiap menit film ini berjalan. Tapi hebatnya, the filmmaker bisa ngebatasin sampe ga nyebrang jadi genre torture porn.  Very grim, beautiful, violent, dark, a bit nonsensical, unrealistic, and definitely not for everyone.

I saw the fuckin devil, and I love the fuck out of it.. 8/10