Film Review: Oldboy

Director: Park Chan-wook

With an American remake already being slated for release in the winter of 2013, it was necessary to revisit the original South Korean movie that made waves when it was released and slowly found its way into the public knowledge back in 2003. Based on the Japanese manga of the same name, Park Chan-wook takes into a seedy underworld in Korea as Oh Dae-Su tries to piece together why he was imprisoned. The new film has Josh Brolin, Elizabeth Olsen and Samuel L. Jackson listed as the main cast but its unsure whether Brolin will be eating a live octopus or not in the remake like Choi Min-sik did.

Oh Dae-Su (Choi Min-sik) is kidnapped in the middle of the night and imprisoned for 15 years without any explanation or interaction with people. The only knowledge he gains of the outside world is through a TV in his hotel room where he is being kept, during this time he gets stronger by shadow boxing and plans his revenge when he is finally able to escape or is released. He is finally released on a rooftop in the city with no reason as to why he was taken or released so he sets out to discover the truth.

Oh Dae-Su eating a live octopus

Its been a popular premise for a while to setup a film where the main character(s) and the audience have no idea what is happening then slowly reveal things gradually over the course of the movie but rarely is it done to such great effect as Oldboy. For so long you're left at a complete loss as to why he was imprisoned and how everything was done, even when he finds his captors it leads him no nearer to solving the riddle and a face to face meeting with the man who took him still leaves him none the wiser, it was genuinely chilling the power he held over Oh Dae-Su.

The final scenes have a shocking resonance in the large penthouse and out in the snow, the ending truly stays with you after you've seen it and leaves you plenty to ponder. It is stylishly shot with a superb fighting scene as Oh Dae-Su has to fight his way out of a building against over a dozen men in a scene all shot in one corridor with one continuous take until it was perfected. This scene instantly reminded me of The Raid: Redemption which was released in 2011 with its grimy and seedy setting for the action. Clever and genuinely surprising thrillers are few and far between these days which pitches Oldboy much above its competition so all I can do is recommend you see this and ditch the American remake.

3.5/4 Dark macabre thriller with cruelly clever plot twists.