The majority of suspense movies grip you with one of two questions: "Who did it?" or "Will they get away with it?" But Kim Jae-hoon's insane thriller Devils prompts other queries. Like "How did those cops go from running after a car on foot to chasing that same car while in their own vehicle?" And "When will there be brain transplants that don't involve the shaving of the head?" If you suspect that I'm knocking this Grade A B-movie then you're wrong. Because the central plot twist here — a killer and a cop swap minds/bodies/roles — gets the other particulars down splendidly. Devils had me wondering repeatedly: "Does a movie need to make sense to be thoroughly entertaining?"
The manipulation. The scheming. The alliances. The betrayals. The psychological warfare. The desparate attempts to prove who you are. Oh yes, when it works, ye old Devils positively excels. The acting is superb — especially between the two leads, who each convince you they're playing two parts in tandem. As the body that once housed the police officer and now houses the serial killer, Oh Dae-hwan exudes creepiness and cruel confidence. His counterpart Jang Dong-yoon relates demented disorientation. As for their "partner" in blue, who must discover what's real in this unreal new world, Jang Jae-ho brings just the right amount of wide-eyed bafflement. Admittedly, as previously mentioned, there are holes: The whole notion that extreme torture gets you a reliable confession is pretty sick. But maybe mind-swaps are like other organ transplants: You develop a taste akin to the original owner's... In this case, the predilection is sadism. But who had it first? The cop or the criminal?
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