67
Metascore
19 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 83The A.V. ClubScott TobiasThe A.V. ClubScott TobiasA mesmerizing study of the nature of evil itself.
- 80Boxoffice MagazinePam GradyBoxoffice MagazinePam GradyPlenty of people die in I Saw the Devil, but it is that first attack on Ju-yeon in the movie's opening minutes that reverberates through the epic 141-minute running time.
- 80VarietyRob NelsonVarietyRob NelsonRepugnant content, grislier than the ugliest torture porn, ought to have made the film unwatchable, but it doesn't, simply because Kim's picture is so beautifully filmed, carefully structured and viscerally engaging.
- 75Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumEntertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumSomewhere in all the blood (sickening realism is a selling point), a question is posed: When does the one fighting a monster become a monster himself?
- 75New York PostV.A. MusettoNew York PostV.A. MusettoYou won't soon forget it -- if you have the guts to see it.
- There is all the violent mayhem, for certain, but the thing that sets I Saw the Devil apart is its undercurrent of real emotion and how unrelentingly sad it can be.
- 60Time OutJoshua RothkopfTime OutJoshua RothkopfUltimately, the returns of the film's premise can't justify a nearly two-and-a-half-hour squirm. The savagery is honest, raw and hardly entertainment.
- On any number of levels, "Devil" is troublesome at best, offensive at worst.
- 40Village VoiceMichael AtkinsonVillage VoiceMichael AtkinsonNever good with nuance, Kim is a beast with disarming imagery but has few resonating ideas, leaving the domino-tumble of brutality to become its own tiresome spectacle.