Revenger (2018) User Reviews

I'm conflicted...

[kenshinlife · 6/10 · 17 January 2019]

On the one end, i really enjoyed the action, but on the other end, the acting, plot, story, and characters were just dull.

But... I couldn't tell if this movie was attempting to be a comedy, or an action flick? The jokes in the movie fell flat for me... The spattering of English dialogue was really weird, the whole side story with the mother and daughter was pointless at best, and didn't add anything to the movie or the story.

A lot of the characters were just weird and irrational. So I wasn't sure if I'm supposed to take this film seriously or if it's trying to be silly.

But, with that all being said, if you want a pointless action flick with good fighting in it. I'd definitely say give it a go, the fight scenes make it worth the watch.

Great fight scenes, otherwise subpar

[thaicoons · 6/10 · 19 January 2019]

It's no secret that the best movies in the last decade or so have been coming from South Korea, The Yellow Sea, Memories of Murder, Burning, New World, The Chaser, I Saw The Devil or Sea Fog to name just a few. Koreans have managed to take every genre and make it original and above all, better. Every genre that is, except comedy, for some reason their and Asian comedies in general still continue to be situational rather than character-based, poorly written and overacted. Revenger is no exception, characters thrown in for comedic relief are cartoonish in the bad sense of the word, it's quite cringey, to tell the truth. The action scenes, however, are world class, superbly coreographed, played and shot. It's not a ground-breaking like The Raid 2 but it's very competent and a joy to watch. Is Revenger worth watching, by all means, it's a fun vendetta movie but there was potential for greatness there, with better characters and more polished comedy parts, Revenger could have been a masterpiece.

One time watch for action fans but nothing impactful or new. The poster looks like a Spartacus episode.

[Fella_shibby · 7/10 · 4 February 2019]

As u can c from the IMDb's plot summary that it is about a cop (Bruce Khan) who puts himself into an island prison to revenge the killings of his family. The island is loaded with so called baddies but when u notice the group which shelters the injured cop, none of em looks like dreaded criminals. In fact there is a warrior woman with a girl child, a silly doc, a retard, few more families n lots of extras. There is another group with a lousy villain, one well built fighter, a sword yielding hunchback n lots of fillers/extras. Ther is tons of hand to hand combat (but none of it memorable), machete fighting, bow n arrow fights but nothing as impactful n memorable like the ones from Iko Uwais' or Donnie Yen's films. Both the groups r wearing identical clothes n during the mass fightings n other action scenes it becomes hard to make out what's going on. (Although none of the shaky cam stuff).

Ther r much better ones with similar theme like Battle Royale, The Condemned, Hunger Games, Cyborg, etc. The lead actor did some nice action choreography but again nothing impactful. I am a lil generous with a 7 cos of the action choreography n the sincere effort.

A must watch.

[karlox_s · 17 January 2019]

Without spoiling anything, if there's a reason I'd recommend anyone interested in the genre to watch this movie, then that's the fact of how many unexpected events occur. The chasm between anything made in Hollywood and this style is utterly unfathomable.

While every single producer in Hollywood is concerned about what rating the movie's gonna get instead of whether it's gonna be good or not, it's clear here that the creators of this one said: "This movie is going to be like this and that, period", and went ahead with it. And man am I glad they did.

And if that wasn't enough, you also have all the other technical ingredients a good movie must have: direction, cinematography, amazing choreographers, lighting, location, etc.

No, definitely not all movies in the genre are the same. With "The Raid" saga and quite a few others, we can see that freedom in creativity gets along marvellously with this movie type.

Huge kudos to everyone involved in the making of this movie, and my deepest condolences to the family of the actor that passed during filming.

A great martial arts flick

[marcsantini85 · 7/10 · 18 January 2019]

If you are looking for a story driven film best find another, if you want a great no brain martial arts film with a little dumb humour thrown in give this a watch.

Better than advertised

[bgar-80932 · 7/10 · 3 May 2019]

The fights are great and there's some funny tongue in cheek humor. I'm surprised to see how low the score is. I feel the comedy was intentional but maybe some people didn't think so and for the serious subject matter maybe it doesn't fit. Regardless the main dude is a bad ass. I usually don't like martial arts movies that much but his fighting was brutal and fun to watch. It brought me back to Liam Neeson just throat chopping everyone who got in his way in Taken. They didn't fight the same but just the quick and brutal effectiveness. Overall a pretty fun film.

Not what I expected..

[rasheeedz · 4/10 · 24 January 2019]

The story line wasn't well written, but if you're looking for an action movie with lots of fighting and blood spilling this is the one.

If you want action entertainment then it's a seven

[EvanKevelson · 7/10 · 30 December 2019]

It's a seven because the background is not developed well. Reading other reviews under a 5, you're obviously the more "Artistic" literate movie fans so why you didn't shut it off after 10 minutes I don't know. In terms of the genre it's a martial Arts film. From what I gathered it's a prison island that was taken over by the most ruthless psychotic criminals and the beer and everything else are probably provisions for the no longer existent prison staff. How can you pick a movie titled "Revenger" that opens with 10 minutes of a chase with violence, the basis of which the viewer knows and expect that "this movie might be get better let me keep watching" and then complain it was a waste of time? Such reviewers wasted their own time. I myself fell for traps especially in "comedies" where the first 20 minutes I laughed so hard that the next 40 I said to myself "This has to pick up again" and of course it just continued to nose dive...I have only myself to blame and for such films at worst I'll say don't watch this thinking that it will get funny like the first twenty minutes because it won't. But to scrutinize the film like a professional critic you have too much free time.

Awful

[BBogus · 3/10 · 20 January 2019]

Lead actor has some pretty nice moves (he is really good, hence 3 stars instead of 1) and good production value which is about all that is positive about the film. Bad acting, average to bad action scenes, simplistic and bad plot. Plus ever so often a dialogue in horrendously bad English which would be comical if it was not so terribly annoying. Stay away from this one and better re-watch "The man from nowhere".

Kung Fu Island

[madwand6 · 7/10 · 12 November 2021]

Cop gets a life sentence for killing the murderer of his family and winds up on Kung Fu Island searching for the man he killed...He spends most of his time saving the life of a little girl (5 times) and her mother while the rest of the "good guys" act like clowns. Cop gets fatally wounded by a poison arrow and less than an hour later, thanks to Korean acupuncture and spit poultices, he is back in fighting form. When he finds the guy he killed, they have a kung fu showdown and when the bad guy is losing, he eats some spinach, but he doesn't get strong like Popeye. I won't spoil it by telling you who wins the kung fu showdown. Having said that, this movie has some of the best, unique fight cinematography I have ever seen.

Pretty good if you fast forward to fight scenes

[XpocalypseSurvival · 5/10 · 23 April 2021]

A former detective gets sentenced to a prison island so that he can confront the man who killed his family and basically the entire island ends up dead.

Most of the points for this movie come from a few minutes worth of the film. In particular a couple of fight scenes, one of which included a fatality that I have never seen before, which always warrants some extra points. The non-fight scenes aren't really very good. There is a group of buffoons that I think are supposed to be funny, but it really didn't work for me, though, that it might be that it was just lost in translation. Overall, the story doesn't really make sense. The locations were good.

So being a martial arts movie, the fights are really all that matters. I did very much appreciate some of the full scene, long take action sequences. It is always nice to see compared to many of the closeup, shaky cam scenes you often get these days. Also, the actors are legitimate martial artists and it felt like there were some real impacts taking place. Unfortunately, most of the fight scenes were very one-sided and consisted mostly of dudes kind of waiting around to be hit. The exception was the two boss fights, which were excellent. Still, the action sequences were entertaining and makes it worth a watch. You wouldn't miss much if you skipped to the fight scenes.

Well

[twistedduck-97040 · 8/10 · 15 January 2019]

Just finished watching this film. If you love action with sword fighting and lots of blood. This film is for you. Just leave your brain at the door its not needed. Ñ

A Dish called Revenge served Hot!

[kryptos-66954 · 6/10 · 13 June 2020]

Revenger is hard to follow as the plot is explained using flashbacks. It contains common themes of criminal violence, treachery, justice and as the title suggests - Revenge. Set on an unnamed Island, somewhere in the South China Seas, the movie contains violent scenes throughout - mostly with martial arts, bladed weapons and bows and arrows. Some of the action is reminiscent of 'Hunger Games' type archery. The acting and characters are ok, except the main character Yool, played by Bruce Khan, hardly talked throughout the whole film which made it harder to follow. The martial arts scenes were a bit far-fetched, i.e one man takes down an entire gang unaided and unarmed, but were choreographed quite well. Excessive violence and brutality are used throughout the film - this is definitely not a film for youngsters or the squeamish! An imagining of the kind of World we don't want to live in but sometimes have to!

Ok film.

[vismay235 · 5/10 · 12 July 2020]

No acting, No good story, Action (fights/scenes/choreography) good.

The screenplay is one of the worst and absurd ever,

[MovieIQTest · 17 January 2019]

BUT the fighting scenes and the choreographic of all the Karate kick boxing, fist fight, knife and sword fights are among the very best that you could ever watched from all of such genre.

The leading actor and the amazing fighter in this movie is MMA Master, Bruce Khan. According to the short introduction of Mr. Khan, quote: "who as a 4th degree black belt in Hapkido, a 4th dan in Korean Karate, a 5th dan in Korean Kwal Bup, and a 4th dan in Korean Kyeoktooki. Bruce is a 4-Time World Champion Titleholder in the World Korea Hapkido Championships. Bruce has also trained with the Seoul Action School and Samo Hung's stunt team Hung Gar Ban." What a brilliant achievement of such a person in the MMA world!

Mr. Khan used his fighting techniques in many fascinating fighting scenes in this movie, but the screenplay didn't give him any dialog but just implemented his fists and feet to replace his dialog, which was more than enough for me to deem this absurd film quite worthy to watch. Those fighting scenes in this movie were one of the best choreographically arranged ones, like what we have seen in those films by Bruce Lee, Tony Yaa, Donny Yen, Wu Jing, and Steven Seagal. Fascinating, brutal, cruel, vicious, bloody....but absolutely GREAT!

Battle Island

[kosmasp · 7/10 · 8 July 2019]

Do you like action movies? It's almost as simple as that if you want to know if the movie is something for you to watch. While I do think the main character lacks a bit of charisma overall, the fight choreography is quite something. You will see a lot of violence and stunts. There is not that much of a story, the premise is in the title obviously.

Also the third act is almost ... needless. It's getting way too heavy and serious and ups the stakes to a degree that the movie is never able to profit from. Quite the opposite. I can see many viewers getting rather angry about certain developments. But overall a decent effort

Just for the action alone!

[Movie-Misfit · 7/10 · 21 July 2019]

Having caught the promotional trailer for this South Korean fight fest on Netflix one night, I popped it in my list and kind of ignored it for some time.

This week, I finally had a day to laze about and figured I could fit in a triple-bill of Asian cinema to help me relax. I went for the awesome 88 Films Blu-ray release of Battle Creek Brawl; and on Netflix - the highly enjoyable Linewalker and of course, this!

Revenger is pretty damn good! I don't mean, 'I could watch this everyday' damn good, (its too dark) but damn good in a surprising way. Albeit except for a few faces in the Korean cast that I recognised, it seems this was the project of a fairly new team including director Lee Seung-won.

Bruce Khan, the star and writer of the film also looks after the fight choreography, and it is with this that the Revenger scores big points! Hardly taking a minute to breathe, the fights come thick and fast leaving countless bad guys lying around with broken bones and busted faces having been punched, kicked and hurt by the awesome moves and power of Khan. And rightly so! The stunt veteran has trained with the amazing Sammo Hung's stunt team, as well as the Seoul Action School and starred in Hong Kong flicks such as Gen Y Cops and Jackie Chan's fun actioneer, The Medallion.

As I watched it, I felt the film was a blend of Battle Royal meets Legend Of The Wolf (New Big Boss), and the more Bruce Khan appeared on screen, felt that this presence, fighting style and acting was akin to that of Donnie Yen. In fact, had it been made in HK, it could easily have starred Donnie under the guidance of Sammo Hung as fight choreographer.

While not overly complex in story or plot (ironic given its long running time), I found it to be fast moving and highly enjoyable. While a lot of people won't enjoy the little spats of humour presented throughout, it didn't bother me at all, reminding me of the films from Hong Kong's golden years and most Korean films on the shelf today.

Revenger doesn't pretend to be anything else other than a jacked-up, fun, martial arts fight fest. And with that, I look forward to seeing more from the awesome Bruce Khan and his team!

Overall: A simple plot with a few hiccups, but one of 2019's first action packed fight flicks worth a watch!

What a let down

[badcgishark · 2/10 · 20 February 2019]

I am a huge fan of South Korean and other Asian revenge style films. Some of the best of these include I Saw the Devil, Oldboy, Bedeviled, The Man From Nowhere, Mother, Onk Bak 2 and 3, and countless other amazing films that not only provide great plots, but also amazing cinematography and fighting scenes.

Revenger has none of this. There is the bare minimum of a plot, the fight scenes are below-average, the characters are bland and two-dimensional, and the way that it changes language constantly is annoying. I usually check IMDB before watching a film, but this looked right up my alley. After an hour, I paused it, saw the current 5.5 score, and turned it off. I couldn't care less about the characters and the film just sucked.

Strong recommendation to avoid. See the other movies I mentioned if you want to see a film like this done well.

Fight scene was good Not the story

[dendypurnama-27447 · 6/10 · 21 February 2019]

If you like to watch a good fight scene this movie is fun to watch , just leave your brain somewhere else grab some popcorn and enjoy the fight

Has all the trappings of an action classic but largely unmemorable! [+54%]

[arungeorge13 · 5/10 · 20 January 2019]

'Revenger' is one of those South Korean martial arts flicks that entertain while it lasts, but there's certainly not a lot to look back on. Directed by Seung-Won Lee, it stars Bruce Khan (who has also written the action-oriented screenplay and handled the stunt choreography). The film tries hard to rise above the mundane actioner, however, it feels more like a mere showcase of stunt-skills than a genuine attempt to tell an engaging story.

I agree that these mindless actioners need not have the strongest of storylines, but 'Revenger' does extremely little to build the characters of the protagonist and antagonist. The film is based on a one-liner: a cop sends himself to a prison-like island to avenge the murderer of his family. And that's it! The rest of the movie is an incoherent series of well-choreographed stunt sequences, a few comedic lines from Kim In-kwon, an underwritten subplot about a child and her warrior mom, and a subpar antagonist.

The thing with Bruce Khan is that he lacks the charisma of a Donnie Yen, a Tony Jaa, or an Iko Uwais. He is splendid in the action sequences and moves at the speed of a lightning bolt. But his character (and expression) is one-note throughout. Bruce Khan's character Yool does have an interesting set of roadblocks in the form of a brute sage, a built Yakuza, a machete-wielding hunchback, and a scarred-by-burns chief baddie. This is a clear reminder of The Raid films, and though 'Revenger' never quite hits the right notes, it does boast a fair bit of charm on the action front.

That said, the done-to-death plot and charmless lead (Khan barely has any dialogues) renders it an unmemorable viewing. You'll enjoy the hard-hitting action (that includes fist fights, sword-fights, one-versus-many set pieces, and some neatly executed bow-and-arrow exchanges) and the gore, though there's not much to chew on later. This is a throwaway 100-minute watch and not more. The highlights? Punches and headbutts landing right, machetes tearing through human flesh, oodles of bloodshed, and some brilliant cinematography. The downers? Everything else.

Nearly but not quite

[chizzckh-67456 · 7/10 · 18 March 2019]

Revenger came up on my suggested viewing with my Netflix account. I'm an action/martial arts junkie but had missed this titles release.

Films of this genre are never going to be masterpieces in terms of acting and deep story telling and this isn't. The plot is weak and cliched with some very average acting but really that is ok as it is very unlikely you are watching films like this for that.

What it does have is plenty of martial arts action, some of the early fight scenes lack a bit of snap but the ones later in the film have a little more brutality.

I had not heard of Bruce Khan before this but he seems to be a very talented martial artist and delivers some nice moves and action sequences.

There is an attempts at humor within the film, mainly through the usual village idiot type support characters you see historically in these films - Didn't really work and at times was quite cringe worthy. Then you have the stereotypical bad guys along with the hordes of mindless foot soldiers who are fodder for the good guys.

Overall a decent enough watch if you're in to these type of films and lots to admire in terms of action sequences. 7 out of 10 maybe a little generous, I have seen reviews comparing it to things like the Raid in terms of a viewing experience. That in my opinion is well wide of the mark but that shouldn't put you off giving it a go.

For me with the 15 certificate it feels like some of the hard hitting action scenes have been dulled down and the early fight scenes suffer.

On the plus side it's great to see Netflix investing into producing these types of action flicks. Personally there aren't enough. The Night comes from us was a far better movie (another Netflix original) but add this to your watch list.

good fight with worst story!

[mediaenetworks · 4/10 · 8 June 2019]

If u looking only fighting movie. this is better with only fight. but if u looking good story with good action movie. sorry this is not worth for it. worst story. im not recommend this as good movie

Who is this BRUCE KAHN?

[gpxdlr · 8/10 · 17 January 2019]

Awesome fight choreography! The fights scenes are great especially the final one. That is the best I've seen in films for awhile. The story itself is silly and the rest of the cast are terrible actors. The 'Mom & Daughter' parts can be skipped. I'm going to see this again just for the fights.

A Martial Arts Junkie

[tonymarionlau · 7/10 · 23 February 2019]

The film which is a NetFlix Original carries a solid punch of adrenalin for the Martial Arts junkies. The storyline has appeared before - an island of madmen convicts terrorize lesser convicts until a single man arrives for revenge on the gangster that killed his family. Short on dialogue but long on martial art techniques. The film is not for everyone, being extremely violent and tense.

Insult to Korean cinema and martial art films.

[rinoasmanever · 2/10 · 9 July 2019]

I expected better from a Korean director. The story is trash, the acting is bland and the writing must have been done by the director's "edgy" teenager son... in crayon... after watching Donnie Yen... clips on YouTube. Go watch "War of the arrows" or "Man from Nowhere" instead.