Oldboy is
one movie that has been tagged as one of the best films of the 2000s, and it’s
a classic worth seeing. Its strength comes from the lead’s performance and its
well-executed directing. Watching it with subtitles didn’t take away from the
experience at all.
The story itself is based on a Japanese manga series that ran from 1996 to
1998, spanning eight volumes.
The movie is a
dark, mysterious thriller directed by Park Chan-wook, and it’s the second
installment in Park’s The Vengeance Trilogy.
The plot starts
in 1988 with the introduction of an alcoholic businessman, Dae-su (Choi
Min-sik), who goes on a drinking spree and gets arrested for causing a public
disturbance. This causes him to miss his daughter’s birthday party.
After being bailed out of the station by his friend, they stop at a phone booth
to call his wife and daughter to let them know he’s okay. While his friend is
on the phone, Dae-su gets kidnapped.
He wakes up in a
strange room that resembles a hotel. Here, he’s fed through a trapdoor and
spends his time watching TV. On TV, he learns that his wife has been murdered
and that he’s the prime suspect.
Now determined to escape and see his daughter, Dae-su passes the time by
practicing how to fight and planning his revenge.
Soon, he starts
digging a tunnel to use for his escape. He spends fifteen years imprisoned in
this room.
He eventually
gets out, but soon discovers that he may not be in as much control of himself
or the events happening around him as he’d like.
Thanks to great
reviews and an impressive box office performance, the movie went on to win the
Grand Prix at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival and was listed among the best
movies of the 2000s.
This movie is a masterpiece, and the director wasn’t in the mood to end it
simply. Instead, he leaves the audience with a cliffhanger that could be spun
into as many possible endings as you can imagine.
Park Chan-wook and Choi Min-sik won numerous awards for directing and acting,
respectively, for their work in this film.
The movie had a remake ten
years after its release in 2013, starring Josh Brolin and directed by
Spike Lee. Unlike the original, the remake was a
box office bomb and was met with negative reviews, as it was not as
deep as the original.
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