(Image above taken from TheMovieDB.org)
[SPOILER ALERT]
If you want to have my thoughts on this film be expressed in greater detail than I ever could, go check out YourMovieSucks' review of Oldboy. While its predominately about the (apparently) abhorrent 2013 American remake, it also goes over what makes the original so great and it also helped me to understand its plot, symbolism and messaging far more clearly.
In essence, I think what makes Oldboy something special is just how purposeful everything is. There's so many little things than go into developing and crafting it, it's simply astounding. The way the narrative unfolds is both a joy to behold and is also utterly no-holds barred with how far it goes in depicting graphic violence and imagery; but again, with purpose, as Oh Dae-Su (the main character brilliantly performed by Choi Min-sik) becomes a 'beast' satiated only by revenge whose motivations, though clouded by rage, are sympathetic. And the cinematography captures it so well with such impressive variety complementing the story damn near perfectly. A good example is when Oh Dae-Su is first imprisoned, the camera's perspective is low to the ground with an extreme close-up of the hatch he's sticking his head out of, desperate for help and the knowledge of why he has been imprisoned. The audience has just as much information as he does (which is very little) and both the plot and cinematography carries this mystery throughout in so many ways to the point where you notice things in earlier scenes that play a part in the grand scheme of the narrative.
And despite his excessive flaws, the audience can still sympathise with Oh Dae-Su and can understand his perceptions of himself as a shameful monster driven mad by a lack of human companionship, which speaks volumes of the film's incredibly strong characterisation. There's also plenty of intertextual references going on. Most explicitly, the film in-part adapts the myth of Oedipus Rex, whose events echo the major plot twist of Oldboy (though it's retold in a far more uncompromisingly brutal way). My main hangup with this film is that I thought the hypnosis thing that acts as a crucial plot device seemed like a bit of a cop-out...? Maybe cop-out is too harsh a word, but it seemed like a lot of Oldboy's events were predicated on the idea of hypnotic suggestion which I found to be difficult to suspend my disbelief over, even when considering all the other "outlandish" occurrences within the film.
Overall: 9/10 - Maybe I'm wrong about the hypnosis thing and it makes perfect sense. In which case, it might be a 10/10. Either way, it's a gloriously chaotic and savagely emotional revenge film that's well worth a watch (if you're not of the faint of heart).
And despite his excessive flaws, the audience can still sympathise with Oh Dae-Su and can understand his perceptions of himself as a shameful monster driven mad by a lack of human companionship, which speaks volumes of the film's incredibly strong characterisation. There's also plenty of intertextual references going on. Most explicitly, the film in-part adapts the myth of Oedipus Rex, whose events echo the major plot twist of Oldboy (though it's retold in a far more uncompromisingly brutal way). My main hangup with this film is that I thought the hypnosis thing that acts as a crucial plot device seemed like a bit of a cop-out...? Maybe cop-out is too harsh a word, but it seemed like a lot of Oldboy's events were predicated on the idea of hypnotic suggestion which I found to be difficult to suspend my disbelief over, even when considering all the other "outlandish" occurrences within the film.
Overall: 9/10 - Maybe I'm wrong about the hypnosis thing and it makes perfect sense. In which case, it might be a 10/10. Either way, it's a gloriously chaotic and savagely emotional revenge film that's well worth a watch (if you're not of the faint of heart).
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