Review: Oldboy (B+)

Oldboy (2003)
Directed by Chan-wook Park
Starring Min-sik Choi, Ji-tae Yu, Hye-jeong Kang and Dae-han Ji
MPAA: R
Grade: B+

Review by Bobby Nashville

Now we're talking. Oldboy is a very cool thriller with lots of violence, psycho warfare and vengeance. It's my kind of movie. Oldboy was apparently Quentin Tarantino's kind of movie too, because he reportedly was raving about the film after seeing it in Cannes.

Oh Dae-Su is a businessman with a fairly ordinary life. He wears a suit to work. He has a wife and daughter. He stays out of trouble. But after a night of drinking, he finds himself locked up in prison. Not your normal prison, mind you - this is almost a hotel room, and the jailers don't speak to him. Someone has actually abducted him and placed him in solitary confinement. But who? And why? For 15 years Oh Dae-Su is locked up.

Oh Dae-Su is freed, seemingly out of nowhere. He swears to exact revenge, but first, he has to find out who was behind the abduction. Oldboy switches into this second gear quite nicely and by the time the film is over, you can't help but be amazed.

Oldboy is an excellent drama, full of twists, turns and fascinating characters. The acting is excellent and the cinematography is absolutely fantastic. According to published reports, this film is being remade here in America (sigh) by the director of Fast & the Furious 3 (another sigh) and should hit the American market in 2006. I seriously doubt that any Hollywood version can hold up next to this highly original, well directed film. Why does Hollywood feel that it has to remake foreign classics? Oh well. Oldboy is awesome. If you like pulp fiction type movies, this is a must see.