5.6.2006

Oldboy (2003)

Note: If you don't know much about this movie then I strongly encourage you to stop reading now and just go watch the movie, you'll be doing yourself a favor.

From South Korea's left field comes this masterpiece loaded heavy with brute, insanity, revenge, and other adorable things. After the somewhat dragging start, I am immediately drawn into Oh Dae-su's hotel room where he will be imprisoned for the next 15 years. Damned here with a TV as his only outlet, he is gassed every night before bed and fed the same meal his entire stay. I would kill myself if I had to eat the same dumplings for more than a few months, unfortunately for Oh Dae-su when he does try to kill himself, the valuum vapors knock him out and the guards rush in to deny him another suicide. Masturbating gets old real quick so then starts the slow process of going mad with revenge. He's still got a long way to go so what's next? Not much else to do but jack off, eat dumplings, fuck up walls, and continue to lose your mind.

You would think that's enough for one man but his real insanity starts after he is released. He is given a thick hand of money, a snazzy suit, and clues to find the person responsible. With the help of a new friend, he finds who he's looking for. The sickness takes a loop as his imprisoner throws him yet another curveball. Oh Dae-su's new task is to find out not why he was locked up but why he was set free, which makes sense being that he could have easily been murdered the whole time in that hotel room. He's cornered perfectly to carry out this task or else the only thing he loves will die.

Oh Dae-su fights his way through some of the most radically choreographed fight sequences I've seen. There's nothing over-the-top, just pure brute and resistance acted out honestly. The dialogue is poetic, witty, and smirkingly funny at times. The music will help you through some of the hardest scenes to bare.

There are a handful of potential movies with very disturbing plots that never manage to explain enough but Oldboy will deliver. It's not spoon fed to you but when it is revealed, you'll feel like you deserved it for paying close attention through all the subtitles. It's a rewarding twist that will wrap your questions up nicely and still manage to leave you in a warm, cozy state of "what the fuck."

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Director and Cast

Directed by: Chan-wook Park
Dae-su Oh: Min-sik Choi
Ji-tae Yu: Woo-jin Lee
Hye-jeong Kang: Mi-do

Additional Images

Sique Rating: 9.5

Audio: 9.7

Graphic: 10

Atmosphere: 8.6

Twist: 10

Explanation: 9.4

Fight scene clip

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