Oldboy
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Movie Reviews of Oldboy
Movie Review: Vengeance With A Capital "V" In Neon Lights!
Summary: 5 Stars
Chan-wook Park is one of the great directors in the business today. There have been many great reviews of this film, and you need to see it if you have not already. I saw this film before I viewed any of the other ones in the trilogy. "Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance" was my favorite, but this middle film in the trilogy comes in a close second. It is a very deeply disturbing film, and I would not let young minds watch it. The character Oh-Dae-su, (Min-sik Choi) gives an outstanding and riveting performance in this film. As the films narrative begins, the protagonist, Oh-Dae-su, is kidnapped while making a phone call to his wife and daughter. The film then veers to what appears to be a run-down hotel. Only this is not like any hotel you would want spend the night in. He is kept in isolation, and is given a diet of dumplings. As the days turn to weeks, the weeks to months, and the months to years, we witness Oh-Dae-su age. But why is he here? Why is he being held captive?
Oh-Dae-Su does not know why this is happening to him. Who could do such a terrible thing? And more importantly, why? This bothers Oh-Dae-Su as well, and he begins to write down ALL of the names of people he feels he has wronged in the past. No matter how trivial the transgression may seem. In the meanwhile, he attempts the insurmountably long and arduous task of trying to escape, by chiseling his way through the wall of his room with an extra eating utensil that he was accidentally given on his eating tray. But this will take many years. With a TV set to keep him company and the always constant meal of dumplings, he finally awakens one day in a suitcase on the top of a building. He has been kept in isolation for 15 years.
Moreover, when he is released into the world there have been many changes in not only the world around him, but in his personal life as well. But, these changes in his personal life are intentional. The antagonist Woo-Jin Lee (Ji-tae Yu) who was responsible for having locked up Oh-Dae-su has a purpose. There was a reason for the number of years why he was imprisoned. And this is where the film takes on a revenge that will shock you. Oh-Dae-su is given a cell phone and a wallet with money. The antagonist Lee tells Oh-Dae-su that he has 5 days to discover why he was locked up. And thus begins a search by Oh-Dae-su to discover not only the identity of his captor, but why he was locked up. I do not wish to spoil this great film for you, therefore, I will not write further. However, the film is terrifically written, directed and acted. This is a must see. Highly recommended. [Stars: 5+]
Movie Review: Guilt and punishment are purely unfathomable
Summary: 5 Stars
This film, in spite of its sulfuric reputation, and the direct connection established by the media in the recent Virginia Tech massacre case, is a masterpiece. A boy has been privately imprisoned for fifteen years with no explanation at all, and of course no trial. It was a private initiative taken by some kind of criminal organization controlled by some kind of mafia itself organized by the entrepreneurial rich. When he is freed he tries to find out why he had been imprisoned like that and to get even with those responsible for it, hence to get his vengeance. The film is a lot more powerful than that in fact, than a simple vengeance case. He will understand that he had known something he shouldn't have known, and he had used it against a schoolmate of his though he should have known he should have kept it for himself, he should have kept his trap shut. And his talking, even if very little, was enough to cause the suicide of a person, and it is the schoolmate of his and lover of the suicidee that went through with his own justice. The film becomes great when the victim of this imprisonment understand his mistake, his crime, his responsibility in the death of the other person and mutilates his speaking for him never to speak anymore. But then the schoolmate, quite older of course understand that he caused a lot of suffering, the death of his victim's wife for instance and the disappearance of his daughter. He then brings justice back onto himself. And the Old Boy, meaning the boy who got old in this private prison, can finally tell the story, in writ, to a woman friend of his and he finally rediscovers love, even if mute love. And this time the film becomes a rewriting of Oedipus' myth: the criminal, unaware of his crime, blinds himself when he discovers the amplitude of his criminal attitude and will die slowly in poverty, rejection and begging. Here the responsibility is definitely shared, silence is imposed onto the criminal tongue, but death comes to the avenging initial criminal who did the first unlawful act that was revealed by the Old Boy, and this Old Boy can then rediscover love again via his writing down his own story. Guilt is always a shared human dimension and punishment must also be shared though some innocent people will pay for the crimes of others and the initial criminal will have to pay more than the subsequent ones. The human species is a very barbaric animal race and yet it is haunted by justice.
Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine & University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne
Movie Review: Why Do These Films Get Ignored
Summary: 5 Stars
I was drawn to Oldboy because I had heard that the twist at the very end of this movie was one that couldn't be beaten. I had heard that before, though, so I was skeptical when I bought it. I figured, yeah, the twist may not be as exciting or surprising as some say it will be, but I know that at least I'm getting a good movie. That was true for Oldboy--it is an excellent all-around movie--and the twist itself paid off big time. I've never been floored like that in my life.
Oldboy follows the fifteen year journey of a man named Oh Dae-su who is married, has a child, and an obvious penchant for creating problems for those around him. He is suddenly taken from the streets of Seoul, and imprisoned inside a room for fifteen years, given food, TV, writing materials, a shower, everything a person can live off of, except simple freedom and the answers to his questions. During his time here, he trains himself to fight, records everything he did up to his current days of imprisonment, and attempts suicide twice, both failures. But then he's suddenly drugged and hypnotized, and wakes up outdoors, on the roof of a building, dressed in a nice suit with all of the few possessions he had had inside of the room. He soon learns that he's been framed for his wife's murder, and his daughter has been adopted by Swedes. And he has one thing on his mind: find out who imprisoned him and kill them.
I won't go on from there, because I may spoil the twist for some people. I will say that the action scenes in this movie are great; it's as if the actors were placed in a room and told to fight for their lives. It looks real. The actor who plays Oh Dae-su plays this role brilliantly. He's funny and dramatic, and carries with him in his appearance all those years of imprisonment. The story itself plays out slowly, releasing tidbits of information, enough to keep you interested long until the next small lump of info. While not an actual mystery, you still feel as if you're trying to solve Oh Dae-su's problem along with him, as he makes it easy to get inside of his head.
I can't recommend this movie enough. I wonder why films like this get ignored so easily. Oldboy is smarter than anything Hollywood has made in ages, with superior acting, a great soundtrack, and an intense well-plotted story. If you like good movies, then pick up Oldboy.
Movie Review: Stunning suspense thriller
Summary: 5 Stars
Imagine a Hitchcock thriller crossed with Raymond Chandler's "Farewell My Lovely" with a twist of David Lynch thrown in for good measure and you'll get an idea about how inventive, startling and powerful "Old Boy" is. Chan-wook Park's film dazzles with stunning imagery but more importantly with a brilliantly supversive mystery at its core. Oh Dae-Su is kidnapped after a celebratory night. He was headed home for his young daughter's birthday when he disappears. When he wakes up he finds he's a prisoner in a cutrate hotel without windows and a metal door. His meals are slid under the door to him, his only companionship is a TV and his grip on sanity begins to slip away after 15 years of confinement. Suddenly, he's released without explanation. He's given a cellphone, a wallet full of money and 5 days to discover who imprisoned him and why. Filled with rage when he discovers that his wife was murdered and he was framed for it, Oh Dae-Su tries to try down his young daughter with the help of a sushi chef he meets and gradually falls in love with. This twisted, dark tale has more twists and turns than a mountain road. Oh Dae-Su gradually unravels the mystery which stands at the heart of his existence but with each bit he unravels he discovers more unanswered questions.
The image quality on this disc is extremely good as is the sound. The film can be viewed in the original Korean (although English is the default language for the film)and there are subtitles which, amusingly, don't always match what the English dubbed track has. Featuring a director's commentary as well as deleted scenes(with optional commentary) and theatrical trailers for this film and others in the Tartan Asia Extreme Cinema DVD releases, "Old Boy" like "Momento", will keep you guessing all the way to the conclusion. If this was an ordinary mystery, I'd say it would be worth viewing one time but the dazzling directorial skill of Park and the strong performances by the actors (as well as the well written script)make this graphic, violent suspense thriller worthwhile.
You'll be glued to your seat as you try and put together the pieces of the puzzle about why this ordinary man's life is taken apart and, more importantly, why he has to put together the pieces of the mystery to regain his life again. Highly recommended.
Movie Review: An absolutely intriguing mystery
Summary: 5 Stars
I was often recommended Oldboy by loads of people but kept putting it off for some reason. Well, I'm glad I just decided to go 'what the hell' because it IS actually really, really good.
Even though the plot has been outlined a zillion times in other reviews, I will simply say that some seemingly random dude is plucked from the streets, imprisoned in a shoddy apartment for 15 years and let loose with a wallet full of money and a cell phone. He has 5 days to find the man who imprisoned him and why.
An absorbing set-up and the clues as he slowly finds them and slowly puts them together make for a brilliant mystery movie with a wicked dark sense of humor. The plot has layers and layers of mystery and our hapless hero wades through thick twists and turns, always keeping us on the edge of our seats.
There are some brilliant fight scenes and some truly bizarre moments, such as a live octopus being eaten whole. But what really floored me was the ending. I won't tell you a tiny little bit of it. But...wow! As is the case with EVERY SINGLE Asian MOVIE, Oldboy is currently being remade by Hollywood. Because anything that the Asians can do, Hollywood can apparently do better. In my opinion this film really doesn't need a remake as this version is strong enough to appeal to the whole world.
Too bad most of the planet are philistines who would rather 'watch' a film than 'read' it. A complaint I hear often enough. If your impression of Asian films is they are all shoddy and not very modern looking then, in the case of Oldboy, you are very much mistaken.
Among the many strong points of the movie are the faultless editing and stunning photography. Oldboy is the slickest movie I have seen in a good while and can easily out-gloss anything by Michael Bay.
Do yourself a favor and check this movie out. If you don't love it then you truly have no business watching films at all. I'll save you time and tell you outright that if you like stuff like Crapper By The Dozen 2 and Miss Congenatiliality 2 then is best you just stick to stuff like that. At the risk of sounding like a pretentious ass, leave the more important films to the brainiacs.
The DVD is in immaculate 2.40:1 anamorphic widescreen with a brilliant Dolby/DTS 6.1 sound design!