Revenger – Review

Korean action cinema has seen a few highs and lows in the last decade, but its good to see some quality productions in a variety of genres getting attention in the West again.

Revenger stars Bruce Khan who is an Interpol officer convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for the attempted murder of the crime boss who killed his wife and daughter. He is sent to an inescapable island called AP-101 that’s shared by 12 Asian countries in the housing of their worst criminal offenders. But he knows the murderer of his family is also on the island and sets out to find him and get his revenge no matter what.

While the story is simplistic at least it tries to be different by setting it on a remote island, shades of Battle Royale, and with no guns available its a good reason to show the combative skills of the many shady characters.

The problem is that you don’t really get to know them well enough to really care, the fight scenes are very well choreographed and edited but after the first hour you just become numb by it all. Bruce Khan has definately got a lot of talent and has served his time as a great stuntman, but its a shame he doesnt really get to do much else apart from the action, the back story is quickly explained and although you see his motivation it not enough to really get you involved.

The fights are brutal, gory and thankfully free of wirework, although the CGI blood can be a bit distracting at times. Some injection of humour at certain points does not really work, although that may be a cultural issue.

If you want a no-nonsense kick-ass film, then by all means see Revenger, just don’t expect it to be a classic, or particularly memorable. Let hope we see more of Bruce Khan in the future because he certainly has the skill to be one of the top martial arts stars of the future.

6 out of 10

Revenger can currently be seen on Netflix