David O'Connell
Oldboy
July 22nd 2007 23:36
It's a nasty, violence-soaked revenge thriller from Korea, but one that turns the genre on its head... I've never seen anything like this, and it was a mind-blowing two hours of sweaty palms, cold feet.
Revenge is the sweet nectar at the nexus of many, many action movies... from Schwartzeneggar with guns, to a fire extinguisher in Irreversible, to Mel Gibson in Payback, it's an easily filmed type of movie, as revenge is simple to write.
Oldboy, on the other hand, is the purest depths of humiliation and human degradation.
As much as I'm willing to tell you: a man is imprisoned for 15 years - he has no idea why, or for how long, and there's no contact with another person for the entire time. He goes partly mad, trains by punching the wall, and digs a slow-baked tunnel to the outside world.
Suddenly he's let free, and the only thing he wants is revenge.
Here's the corridor fight scene, in all its continuous filmed glory:
Beautifully shot and edited, with nicely complementary special effects, Oldboy is gorgeous to watch, styled out like the manga comic that it's based on. It's never dull, propelling you with the mystery of the imprisonment, which unravels slowly like a clockwork orange, if one were to wind such an orange. Director Park Chan-wook is masterful at maintaining suspense, going as so far as to throw you false leads.
And the plot finale? Oh God...
Roger Ebert gave this film a glowing review, saying that "this is the kind of movie that can no longer easily be made in the United States"... several years later, though, we'd get the infamous movie Saw, and its sickening clones of the newly-minted 'torture porn' genre. And while Saw was innovative, it was fundamentally flawed; its sequels and derivations were unimaginative and predictable.
Where Oldboy succeeds, in contrast, is the tight plot and the brooding atmosphere. This is a masterpiece, and one of the best Korean movies that I've ever seen.
If I were to draw any criticism about the film, it would be that it should have ended at a final, climactic point... the ending scenes were stretched out and unnecessary.
I'm writing this at night, when I could easily be doing something else... unfortunately, all I can think about is Oldboy and the incredible, twisted ending that made me shiver. I'm several years too late to be heaping praise on this underground favourite, but I'll throw mine on the heap as well: Oldboy is one of a kind and not to be missed.
I say: One of the best in the past 5 years; furious explosion of sex and violence coupled with despair. You've got to see it.
See it for: The infamous corridor fight scene, the smooth, silky editing. The bare skin of Korean women.
*this image is from the 2005 Indy International Film Festival page
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Comment by Damo
I really want to see this film.
The clip looks very much like a dark 'Enter the Dragon' punch up.
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
I agree that the ending is drawn out, and perhaps goes on a few scenes too long, but still so much more interesting than so many American movies ...
I plan to purchase this for my own collection!
Nice review by the way too Cibby!! Have you seen Ichi the Killer ...?
Comment by Cibbuano
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Bryn, me too... though on the big screen, I might have wet my pants. Haven't seen Ichi the Killer, but I'll look out for that next...
Comment by Bryn
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Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
Have you seen the other two parts of the Directors revenge trilogy?...Sympathy for Mr Vengeance and also Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, well worth a look too if you enjoy Chan-wook Park's style. Old boy is the second chapter.
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