Lady Vengeance is Park Chan-wook’s final exploration into the theme of revenge, and yet again, he finds new territory to explore. It follows a woman hell bent on revenge after being released from prison. Known to most as a kind-hearted woman, her dedication to revenge knows no bounds.

The ending is grim and phenomenal, pushing the theme of revenge even further to ‘organised revenge’ or ‘democratic revenge’.

Lady Vengeance clearly attempts to link to the other two films in several ways (the theme of kidnapping is again explored), and as a result, it sometimes feels a bit forced. Nevertheless, it’s essential viewing for lovers of Oldboy.

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Oldboy gets so many things right—excellent plot, superb acting, an amazing opening, a filthy twist, and entertaining throughout. It put Chan-wook on the world stage, and it was only a matter of time before we covered this masterpiece on the podcast.

Oldboy is also one of Tobias’s top films ever and includes one of Craig’s favourite fight scenes. It’s a film that any respectable cinephile probably has on DVD locked away for safekeeping (as we do, of course).

And, Craig—for some strange reason—also put himself through the misery of watching Spike Lee’s remake and provides some commentary on how disappointing it is in comparison to the original. Essentially, it was a remake no one asked for, and it’s littered with poor decisions—almost none of it is redeemable.

We’re both super happy to discuss Oldboy along with the rest of the Vengeance Trilogy, to understand the film in the context of Chan-wook’s broader work. Many people likely don’t know that there are other films associated with Oldboy. In our next episode, we’ll complete the trilogy with Lady Vengeance.

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What’s really great about Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance is that it captures how revenge never ends well. It creates a cycle that cannot be stopped and has unintended consequences that can backfire on the ones you love the most. By the end of the film, you find yourself asking, ‘Who actually is Mr. Vengeance?’

To be honest, we weren’t expecting much from this film, but it’s excellent and criminally underrated. In short, it follows a deaf-mute who, with his anti-fascist girlfriend, decides to kidnap his ex-boss’s daughter for ransom to pay for his sister’s kidney transplant (and that’s all we’ll say for now).

Tobias and Craig made the excellent decision to watch the entirety of Park Chan-wook’s Vengeance Trilogy—Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Oldboy, and Lady Vengeance. In the next two episodes, we’ll cover parts 2 and 3—the critically acclaimed Oldboy and Lady Vengeance.

Apologies again for Tobias’s poor audio! At points, his laptop sounds like a roaring F1 car. We’ll buy him a new one one day.

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In this short episode, the Film Shrapnel lads discuss IMDb ratings and their accuracy. There’s a lot to talk about and Craig has prepared some talking points.

Who primarily uses IMDb, and does that skew ratings for certain genres and prevent international cinema from getting as much attention as Western films? What about the top-rated films on IMDb? Does The Shawshank Redemption belong at the top? Are other measurements more effective? What about Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic?

This episode is a redo of an episode we recorded last year for season 2, but unfortunately, we had mega bad audio issues, so we had to axe it. (It all started when Tobias and Craig disagreed on whether the 1999 version of The Mummy was a good film.)

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We’re finally doing something Lynch! Why did it take us so long? With the legendary director’s death last year, we had to watch something of his, and it just so happens that Wild at Heart is one of Tobias’s favourite films of all time.

It also features Nicholas Cage in a role that fits him perfectly, Laura Dern at her finest, and Willem Defoe stealing the limelight in the creepiest way possible.

After Megalopolis and Neil Breen’s Twisted Pair, Wild at Heart was a breath of well-needed fresh air.

Enjoy!

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What on Earth happened to this film? How did the legendary director of The Godfather end up creating this monstrously bad movie? Tobias and Craig are at a loss. Try as they might, there’s little redeemable to discuss in Megalopolis.

What makes it sadder is Coppola sank his wine business to pay for this pitiful film, and it will probably be the last thing he ever makes. It’s a film he should never have made. Visually, it's yucky. The acting is horrid (except for a few cast members that we really like). But most of all, so much of it doesn’t make any sense.

In fact, the plot is so muddled, it’s hard to believe Coppola worked on this film for decades before it got made.

It’s a sad and frustrating film, and there’s a lot to talk about.

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Tobias tells Craig his plan to reimagine The Warriors—The Warriors FC—and Craig is more than happy to help him flesh out this idea.

Here’s the plot: Imagine The Warriors was set in modern-day London. All the top English football firms are getting together for a big meet-up at the edge of the city. They’re going to team up for England at the World Cup to beat the crap out of all the other fans abroad, but suddenly ‘Cyrus’ is shot, and the Warriors FC are blamed and must escape home while other firms hunt them down.

We talk a lot about English actors and get distracted by characters called Craig in movies (they’re always the worst). No West Ham fans allowed!

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Tobias has been nagging Craig to watch The Warriors for years. Craig finally caved in, and it was super worth it. While it’s a dated film and there’s plenty to laugh at, there’s also a lot of good stuff to talk about, and it’s very influential.

The plot is simple. A street gang must get from one side of New York to the other while the rest of the city hunts them down falsely believing they assassinated the chief of the biggest gang in the city.

The Warriors is flamboyant and super 80s (for a movie from 1979), the dialogue is ridiculous, and the role of women is problematic. However, the bulk of the film is just a bunch of ‘kids’ trying to survive and get home. There’s no social message, though could’ve had more action.

It’s a film that deserves a remake. Tobias has a plan, and he reveals it all in the next episode!

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