I had heard this was a film to rival Park Chan-wook's "Oldboy"-and to some it might, as I'm aware many did not enjoy Oldboy as much as I did-but in all honesty I found it wanting in substance and gruelling in pace. It's a superficial and unsubstantial horror film that mainly sticks in the mind due to disturbing content, not disturbing themes.SPOILERS WILL BE INCLUDED BEYOND THIS POINTLet's handle each aspect of film itself to break down what I feel didn't work about the film:First, our Protagonist, Agent Soo-hyeon. What can be said about him other than his occupation and relationship with the victim? Well, very little. He is given a bit of extra characterization with a more vulnerable side at the beginning phone call, but after that point he becomes singular in his goals and shows next-to-no personality besides hesitance and blood lust. This would be fine if his plan made any sense. Don't get me wrong, I understand the concept of catch-and-release torture and why he might pick it, but not only does it immediately make him into an unlikable character, subjecting multiple women to horrifying conditions because he was continuously sloppy with his surveillance of his target. But also a lot of his choices are not only medically impossible to sustain (like constant knock-outs actually leading to brain damage) but also he makes ridiculous action-movie level choices that make the movie seem like a cartoon. The final death scene for the villain also seems hilariously out of theme, with him inflicting horror on the villain's family...a family the villain doesn't even care about.Speaking of Kyung-chul, he was mostly fine. See, in the movies there's always an ongoing attempt to explain a serial killer's reasoning or to make them refined/attractive to make them more horrifying. However, reading the real cases of killers reveals the vast majority of them are brutal simpletons who commit horrible crimes for no reason besides they can. I respected the decision to make Kyung-chul more in line with this type of thinking, but he's ruined in the final scene by trying to make him care about a family he outright abandoned to become a serial killer. It's very confusing.When it comes to the plot itself, it's structured well but is bogged down by ridiculously unbelievable set pieces and repetitive actions. The only thing to keep up continuous engagement is the shock value of the gore, which doesn't affect me personally all that much. The structure is mostly good but the choices of some characters (mainly our inconsistent protagonist) are too stupid to feel justifiable. All-in-all I was thoroughly disappointed.

It's shocking, bloody, brutal and more than a little crazy. It's also brilliant! Know that old Klingon proverb? Well this one is freezing, an ultimate revenge flick!

There are many good things about this movie, unfortunately, it has just as many problems. First of all, this is not a movie for a faint of heart. It's gory, shocking, and will make you uncomfortable. However, these scenes were there not for pure shock value, but rather, to serve as a bold, direct look at the absolute worst of humanity. For the most part, this direction worked, and helped set this movie apart from other horror, thriller flicks. The direction and cinematography were also gripping and competent. Every actors did their best, and the two main characters, particularly Choi Min Sik's murderer, were very well performed. All of this created a powerful, brutal, and almost impossible to look away movie. However this only maintain for about 2/3 of the way. This movie has a major flaw, and that is the script. The basic idea is an interesting one, and the execution was competent. However, the script as a whole lacks gravity in many parts, things happened that feel forced and unnecessary, and toward the end, it slipped into zone of stupidity (Characters that set up to be "smart, cool" yet didn't see the most obvious things that would definitely happened. The police was a complete and utter joke...etc...) In fact, the last 20 - 30 minutes of the film was so poorly written, it almost single-handedly killed all the goodwill that it has been building up for over an hour. Ultimately, I left with a rather bad taste in my mouth.

It wasn't anything special but it had it's moments. Definitely a good quality movie and worth a watch if you're into crime dramas. Would I watch it again? Maybe. I liked a few parts of the movie more than others and they'd probably be worth another watch through at some point in the future.