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In the realm of revenge thrillers, you'd be hard pressed to find more ultra-violent vengeance and psycho thrills than in the creepy story of Oldboy. This Korean import made a pop splash at the Cannes Film Festival and during its limited theatrical run thanks to the imprimatur of Quentin Tarantino, who raved about it and its visionary director, Chan-wook Park, to anyone who would listen. It's easy to see why QT fell in love with the grindhouse attitude, fast-paced action, violent imagery, and icy-black humor, but it's a disservice to think of Oldboy as another Tarantino homage or knockoff. The darkly existential undercurrent in the themes that Oldboy traces over its life-long narrative arc is much more complex and deeply disturbing than anything of its kind. The movie's tagline is, "15 years of imprisonment... 5 days of vengeance." The imprisonee is Oh Dae-Su, an ordinary Joe who is snatched off a Seoul street corner and locked away in a dank, windowless fleabag hotel room for the aforementioned 15 years. Just as abruptly he is released, and thus the five days begin. Why did this happen to Oh Dae-Su? Ah, but that would be telling, and in fact we don't know ourselves until the final wrenching scenes.
Oldboy breaks into a classic three-act saga, the first of which details the hallucinatory period of imprisonment in which Oh Dae-Su wades from mild insanity to outright psychosis in the hands of unseen yet attentive captors. Act 2 is the revenge, when an entirely different tone takes over and Oh Dae-Su moves with single-minded purpose and clarity. It's this section that has gained the most notoriety, primarily for the claw-hammer dentistry scene, the one-man-army tracking shot, and the wriggling octopus that Oh Dae-Su consumes in a sushi bar (he's been dead so long he simply needs life back inside him in any way possible). In act 3, answers finally start to emerge and the sinister atmosphere grows even more profound--not without a healthy dose of extra bloodletting, of course. Oldboy is an undeniably poetic masterpiece of tension, fury, and dynamic craft. Ultimately, its epic cycle of tragedy is of the sort that mankind has been inflicting upon itself for all time. Some of the images may be gruesome, but all converge into a kind of beauty. It's in the telling of this lurid tale that these details become one and the memories of pain ultimately heal. --Ted Fry
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Most helpful customer reviews
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Amazing movie about vengeance!,
By Super Freak (Toronto, Ontario) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Oldboy (DVD)
This film is fantastic. It's full of mystery and kept my interest right up until the credits. It's about a man named Oh Dae-su, who lives with his wife and daughter. He is kidnapped and later wakes up to find himself in a private makeshift prison. Dae-su wonders what made someone hate him so much enough to imprison him without any reason. While imprisoned, Dae-su hears on the TV news that his wife was murdered. Dae-su swears to take revenge on the person who destroyed his happy life. Fifteen years later, he is released with a wallet filled with money and a mobile phone. An unknown man calls Dae-su and asks him to figure out why he was imprisoned. The story then unfolds into an incredible and shocking tale of revenge. This movie is an absolute must-see.
4.0 out of 5 stars
prettty good/intense,
By
This review is from: Oldboy (DVD)
oldboy is pretty awesome with a storyline that holds your attention the whole way through and some pretty excellent action thrown in as well. I saw the little twist near the end coming a mile away but thats a minor set back from what otherwise is a really good movie. Great acting by all the leads and the first half keeps you wondering what exactly is going on. I'd say the first half was my favorite and most interesting part of the movie. I recently watched I Saw The Devil which has been compared to this movie i actually liked istd a little bit more than oldboy but they are still both great moviers.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Extreme Asia and an Excellent film,
By
This review is from: Oldboy (DVD)
This is the sort of film that reminds me why I love Korean cinema so much. I had meant to see it for years and am so glad I saved it up. This is the fascinating story of Oh Dae-Su (Choi Min-Sik) who gets abducted one night after a drinking binge and is locked up in a sort of private prison for fifteen years. During that time no-one will speak to him, tell him what he has supposedly done or how long he must remain confined. It is based on a Japanese Mange written by Nobuaki Minegishi and Garon Tsuchiya. It is the second part of the trilogy preceding Sympathy for Mr Vengeance and followed by Sympathy for Lady Vengeance - and they are excellent too.He is finally released and given a mobile phone and some serious cash. He sets out for vengeance on those that had wronged him and on his travels he meets and falls for a young and attractive sushi chef who he moves in with right away. He soon finds he is being watched and followed but the years of being locked up have made him resilient and fit as he had little else to do whilst being alone, other than build himself up. I do not want to spoil the plot but the more he finds out the more complex his situation becomes, with violent consequences. The acting is superb, no-one is a passenger and director Park Chan-Wook does a brilliant job. This is violent, visceral and yet stylish. It had me on the edge of my seat for most of the film and it is nearly two hours long, so that is some achievement. It is full of great lines that are heavy with poignancy, like - "whether a rock or a grain of sand; in water they both sink alike. And that is the whole point of this film; we are all equal when faced with the unspeakable truth of our own depravity. This is a must see for anyone even slightly interested in Asian/World cinema, I strongly suggest watching them all in order as you will get so much more from the experience . It is an 18 certificate and contains violent scenes and adult themes, but it will stay with as a stunning piece of cinema.
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