Today’s quick review: Oldboy. One drunken night, Oh Dae-su (Min-sik Choi), a Korean businessman, is kidnapped off the street and locked in a small room with no explanation why. After 15 years of imprisonment, his faceless captors release him with only a scant few clues to go on. With the help of Mi-do (Hye-jeong Kang), a kindly sushi chef, Oh sets off on a bloody quest for answers and revenge.
Oldboy is a Korean revenge thriller with a dark story and excellent direction. With a compelling premise, artistic presentation, an odd but intereting soundtrack, and rock-solid progression, Oldboy makes for a weighty and engrossing watch. The quality can be seen from the earliest moments of the movie, subtle decisions in writing and presentation that turn what could have been a simple revenge flick into something more.
Unlike some thriller protagonists, Oh Dae-su is not a genius. His is resourceful enough to stay on the trail of his captors, but not enough to avoid the traps they set along the way. The balance between Oh and his enemies gives Oldboy a clever sort of tension where it is never clear whether Oh is making progress or falling victim to one more layer of control.
The human side of Oldboy has some nuance to it as well. Oh may be the protagonist, but he is no hero. His flaws range from ordinary weakness to erratic behavior to sadistic acts of violence, but he never loses the sympathy owed to a normal man treated unjustly. The movie sees him go from handsy drunk to desperate prisoner to vengeful warrior, yet he remains a complicated, human character throughout.
The tone of Oldboy has a similar nuance to it. The themes of the movie are very dark, ranging from isolation and madness to rape and torture. But the movie keeps up enough momentum to push through its most brutal parts. By the time the impact of a scene fully registers, the next scene is in full swing, with a new mystery, conflict, or peek at the seedy side of human nature to occupy the viewer’s attention.
Watch Oldboy when you are ready for a perverse, finely crafted thriller that lives up to its early promise. The level of violence makes it a nonstarter for any sensitive viewers, but the momentum of its plot keeps it from descending all the way into horror. The movie offers several well-shot fight scenes, but its focus is on tight, compelling mystery and character drama rather than action.
8.4 out of 10 on IMDB. I give it an 8.0 to 8.5 for excellent craftsmanship.