Oldboy: Review

Oldboy is a Korean movie which tells the story of Oh Dae-Su (Min-Sik Choi), a man who is a fairly stereotypical businessman until he is kidnapped and held prisoner in a room which becomes his home for 15 years. For fifth-teen years Dae-Su is given small meals, drugged frequently and left to watch television and write a diary, in which he writes about everybody he has ever wronged in his life in order to attempt to gain a perspective on whom exactly placed him in this small jail-like room. After 15 years, Oh Dae-Su is released, and soon meets a woman who works in a sushi restaurant by the name of Mi-do (Hye-jeong Kang). Mi-do takes Oh Dae-Su back to her apartment after he falls unconscious, and Oh Dae-Su soon begins trying to find his captor so he can exact his revenge. 

I think what I liked most about Oldboy was the character of Dae-Su and how his fifth-teen years held captive truly changed him, making him an aggressive and far more cynical shadow of his former self shown briefly at the beginning. This aggressive side to the character was portrayed through the several intense fight-sequences, which were excellently choreographed and huge amounts of fun to watch, although at times very brutal. I think that sums up a lot of the movie really, in that it's a very interesting and entertaining experience, but littered with several difficult-to-watch scenes which will stick in your mind a while after viewing. The violence is always justified however, often through the intent of vengeance.

Oh Dae-Su (Min-Sik Choi)

One thing to know is that as the film is Korean, all of the dialogue is in Korean (unless you are watching a dubbed version), meaning a lot of subtitle reading is required. I personally don't have a problem with this, as it adds to the experience for me to hear the characters speaking in the appropriate language, but it may immediately put people off to know this is a foreign movie. I would argue that it would be wrong for it not to be Korean however, and with such negative reception to the news that an American remake is set to release this year, it seems many Oldboy fans agree with me. 

My only main criticism of Oldboy is that the length of time Dae-Su was held captive (15 years) seems a fraction of the actual time when portrayed on-screen. Obviously it would be impossible to properly convey exactly how long it felt through a movie, but a longer period of time could have been spent to allow the viewer to properly empathize with the character of Dae-Su. 

Verdict
Oldboy is an original and interesting story of vengeance, filled with twists and unexpected turns. Although the language barrier may put some people off, I would urge anybody who can handle the (at times) intense violence to watch it, especially if you are a fan of heavily stylised movies.    8/10

"Laugh and the world laughs with you.

Weep and you weep alone."