Literary HackOldboy
March 16th 2010 22:18
Wow! I think I think that's the word I said out loud to myself after seeing this film. Oldboy, released in 2003, is a South Korean action-thriller film about a man who has been imprisoned in a hotel room for 15 years. He eventually is released and begins his journey seeking revenge on his captors.
The movie grabs your attention right away and never lets go. Oh Dae-su (Choi Min-sik), is a completely different man after being locked away for a decade and a half. He is quiet, he is trained, he is angry, and he is determined.
After he is randomly released on a rooftop, Oh Dae-Su heads into the city. While eating at a sushi restaurant he receives a call from a man claiming to be his captor. He claims that he will kill himself if Oh Dae-Su can find him within five days. If not, the young attractive server working at the sushi bar, Mi-do, will die.
As time goes by, the whole story begins to piece together for the viewer. The movie keeps you entertained all the way up until the astounding and revealing ending. The way the director, Chan-wook Park, weaves the storyline so perfectly together is quite remarkable. The movie begins with a mysterious kidnapping and imprisonment, but rather than base that as the main theme and puzzle as I've seen so many American films do, a whole other independent story emerges running adjacent to the imprisonment and eventually overshadows all other aspects of the film in becoming the main focal point.
I was told great things about the movie and it surpassed my already high expectations. I loved one part in particular; the fight scene in the hallway is simply superb. Rather than use Matrixy-type special effects, it plays more as a real fight. A brawl, if you will. One that Oh Dae-Su struggles to escape. The filming of that scene and the way it is executed creates one of the best fight scenes I have seen in quite some time.
Oldboy is the second film in Park's Vengeance Trilogy. I have yet to see the other two, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and Lady Vengeance. Anyone seen either one? How are they? I recommend Oldboy to anyone that can stomach some violence and a few gruesome thoughts of torture.
The movie grabs your attention right away and never lets go. Oh Dae-su (Choi Min-sik), is a completely different man after being locked away for a decade and a half. He is quiet, he is trained, he is angry, and he is determined.
After he is randomly released on a rooftop, Oh Dae-Su heads into the city. While eating at a sushi restaurant he receives a call from a man claiming to be his captor. He claims that he will kill himself if Oh Dae-Su can find him within five days. If not, the young attractive server working at the sushi bar, Mi-do, will die.
Mi-do, praying for a better wardrobe I hope.
As time goes by, the whole story begins to piece together for the viewer. The movie keeps you entertained all the way up until the astounding and revealing ending. The way the director, Chan-wook Park, weaves the storyline so perfectly together is quite remarkable. The movie begins with a mysterious kidnapping and imprisonment, but rather than base that as the main theme and puzzle as I've seen so many American films do, a whole other independent story emerges running adjacent to the imprisonment and eventually overshadows all other aspects of the film in becoming the main focal point.
I was told great things about the movie and it surpassed my already high expectations. I loved one part in particular; the fight scene in the hallway is simply superb. Rather than use Matrixy-type special effects, it plays more as a real fight. A brawl, if you will. One that Oh Dae-Su struggles to escape. The filming of that scene and the way it is executed creates one of the best fight scenes I have seen in quite some time.
Oh Dae-su picks up the nearest weapon he can find
Oldboy is the second film in Park's Vengeance Trilogy. I have yet to see the other two, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and Lady Vengeance. Anyone seen either one? How are they? I recommend Oldboy to anyone that can stomach some violence and a few gruesome thoughts of torture.
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