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Min-sik Choi, Gang Hye-jeong, Ji-tae Yu, Yoo Ji-tae

South Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook directed this violent and offbeat story of punishment and vengeance. Oh Dae-su (Choi Min-sik) is a husband and father whose reputation for womanizing is well know... read more read more...n. One day, for reasons he doesn't understand, Oh Dae-su finds himself locked up in a prison cell, with no idea of what his crime was or whom his jailers may be. With a small television as his only link to the outside world and a daily ration of fried dumplings as his only sustenance, Oh Dae-su struggles to keep his mind and body intact, but when he learns through a news report that his wife has been killed, he begins a long and difficult project of digging an escape tunnel with a pair of chopsticks. Before he can finish -- and after 15 years behind bars -- Oh Dae-su is released, with as little explanation as when he was locked up, and he's soon given a wad of money and a cellular phone by a bum on the street. Emotionally stunted but physically strong after 15 years in jail, Oh Dae-su struggles to unravel the secret of who is responsible for locking him up, what happened to his wife and daughter, and how to best get revenge against his captors. Oldeuboi was screened in competition at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival and won the coveted Grand Prix. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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126 critics

R, 1 hr. 58 min.

Directed by: Chan Wook Park

Release Date: March 25, 2005

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DVD Release Date: August 23, 2005

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Flixster Reviews (12,411)

  • fb1463751009
    March 9, 2012
    fb1463751009
    What an incredibly disturbing but impeccably well-made masterpiece. Min-sik Choi, who plays as Oh Dae-su, the main character, was absolutely mesmerizing. Because this movie is a South-Korean movie, the plot unravels in a way that is very unfamiliar to American audiences. Everythi... read moreng is so well crafted but the real winner of this movie is the plot. A must watch... but it is absolutely not a movie for those who are under 17.
  • blkbomb
    October 4, 2011
    blkbomb
    Dae-su Oh: Even though I'm no more than a monster - don't I, too, have the right to live? 

    "15 years of imprisonment, 5 days of vengeance."

    Oldboy is the second film in Chan-Wook Park's revenge trilogy and it is widely regarded as the best in the trilogy. Even if you don't like... read more violent movie, which I do, there is no denying just how well made Oldboy is. The film is put together magnificently well on every level. It looks great, it's well acted, the score is tremendous. There's nothing about it that isn't top notch. I really enjoyed the movie, but I don't feel like it is one of the best movies ever like many. 

    Dae-su Oh is taken prisoner for 15 years. While locked up, he eats only one thing for 15 years and his only entertainment is a television. One day he wakes up freed and begins to seek revenge on the people responsible for his being prisoner for 15 years and also for the death of his wife, which everyone believes he did. The movie isn't your standard revenge film where something is done to a guy, so he seeks revenge and that's all there really is. This has much more depth than the standard revenge film has. 

    The movie is violent and bloody, but not nearly as disgusting as I was led to believe. The violence isn't overdone, in my opinion. In fact, I kind of expected more. It's also not only done for pure shock value or to just gross out the audience. Everything works together to get the movie where Park wants to take it and maybe everyone doesn't enjoy watching what he's showing, but he's going to show it nonetheless. 
  • ythelastman89
    August 16, 2011
    ythelastman89
    I liked Oldboy's main concept and original visual style, but ultimately it just didn't have the effect on me that it has on so many others. From the beginning it felt a lot like Brian De Palma's Obsession and as the movie progressed it just became more and more similar. Take away... read more the violence and it's essentially the same idea. Now it's not so directly similar that it's call it a rip-off, but the entire ending is completely ruined when you can see it coming a mile away. Like most people would agree, it's hard not to address the completely bizarre elements here. The goofy characters and execution is so out of the ordinary that sometimes this feels like the inner mind of an insane person. Maybe i'm just not a fan of the style and/or storytelling. I can appreciate the movie and I realize the huge fanbase it has, but I just don't see why it's so undeniably great and perfect. To me, it was nothing all that new and a lot of the time it just seemed to be trying to hard to be strange and push the limit of social taboos. Maybe if the ending was as much of a surprise to me as others, I would appreciate it more. However, it just seemed so obvious to me about what was going to happen. In fact, I would've been surprised if it didn't end the way it did.
  • garyX
    July 28, 2011
    garyX
    Daesu Oh is a drunk and a philanderer, but otherwise a fairly typical husband and father. That is until one day he is kidnapped and imprisoned in a cell for 15 years with only a TV set for company and no word of explanation. One day he wakes up on the outside with only a wallet a... read morend a phone, and he sets out on a single-minded quest to find out why he was imprisoned and extract bloody vengeance on those responsible. The second part of the Vengeance Trilogy by Chan-wook Park, Oldboy is a bizarre and brilliant film. It constantly wrong foots you and messes with your perceptions, and contains the kind of revelation that makes the kind of so-called plot "twists" of most films look gimmicky and inane. This is the kind of film that blows you away and makes you realise you've been watching the WHOLE THING from the wrong standpoint. As for Min-sik Choi's performance, astonishing is the only word for it...the way such intense emotions and motivations are constantly shifting without ever feeling contrived or forced is just spellbinding. It combines art and extreme violence in a way that reminded me of A Clockwork Orange, but BETTER. It's also stylistically on the same level as Fight Club and is absolutely riveting from beginning to end. A totally flawless modern masterpiece.
  • LoughnerWasLucid
    July 25, 2011
    LoughnerWasLucid
    i think i've seen three asian films this year and two of them involve a man cutting off his own tongue. i was thinking of seeing some Takashi Miike or John Woo or something but fuck, i should leave my mushroom and ham pizza alone while im watching i guess.
  • ariuza1
    April 16, 2011
    ariuza1
    Old Boy is one of my favourite films. As far as I can see, no amount of superlatives could explain quite how much I love it. After my first viewing, (all on my lonesome) I realised I probably hadn't blinked during its entirety and I could quite possibly have been burgled during i... read morets course and been none the wiser, such was the extent to which I found it totally and utterly engrossing. Obviously a review consisting of very little other than me spewing praise would be a fairly dull read which was why I never bothered to review Old Boy until after my second viewing, with my Po'. My father being the eternal sceptic that he is turned out to be an extremely worthy person to watch the film with, and his response to it opened my eyes a little as to why I love it that much.

    The plot itself is as follows. The protagonist Oh Dae-Su is one day captured and finds himself locked up in a makeshift prison. After a brief spell of anger and spewing hatred for his captors, he resigns himself to his fate, and after 15 years of shadow boxing and suicide attempts he wakes up from a gas induced coma on top of a tower block where he was initially seized. He then proceeds to try and find out who did this and why, and the film basically charts this quest.

    The first word that springs to mind when thinking about this film has to be graphic. There are certain scenes which will make those of nervous disposition recoil until they are firmly wedged between the back and seat of their sofa, and they are likely to spend much of the film there as violence is frequent. In most of the extreme cases it is simply the implication of violence and the viewer's imagination when left to its own devices like this will cause its own disgust. This hurdle was a huge thing problem for my dad, who considered some of the violence to be gratuitous, which I can somewhat agree with, although certain scenes are completely integral to the plot. The best way I can justify these scenes is simple. It is all about sending a message, and these do just that. If you can cope with this then you will break down the initial barrier the film leaves lying in the way of your enjoyment.

    Many of the themes you will pick up on and the method of direction is very synonymous with Quentin Tarantino. There are devices used in this film which have obviously taken inspiration from Tarantino's works, in particular the Pulp Fiction- esquire use of camera angles, and the famous dotted line sequence. However, Tarantino is himself a huge fan of Old Boy, being its main advocate to win the 2003 Palme d'Or (where it eventually lost out to Fahrenheit 9/11) and has stated Park Chan-Wook as an influence for his directing style on the Kill Bill series, as well as on his later grindhouse works Death Proof and Planet Terror. Chan-Wook takes on a policy of "trust the director", and leaves many questions throughout the film which gives it a somewhat disorientating feel at times. This method of directing can seem quite inaccessible, however all loose ends are tied up very satisfactorily in the enthralling and shocking climax. This is an ending to rival the classic Kaiser Sozé twist in the tail of The Usual Suspects.

    What really separated and elevates Chan-Wook's work above and beyond Tarantino's however is very simple. Much of Tarantino's work is undertaken as an exercise in direction and film making, and therefore his work can therefore feel shallow. Old Boy however is a film which assesses the deepest corners of the human heart. The middle of three films which make up Chan-Wook's Vengeance Trilogy it is undoubtedly the masterpiece, with a more powerful message than Lady Vengeance and Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance. This film has power because of the depths to which it explores the flaws and forces the human heart possesses, stronger and more destructive than any wisdom can overcome. The performances of the main cast and most importantly the director to send this message to the viewer leave this film as about as close to perfection as I can see any film getting.
  • flixsterman
    January 29, 2011
    flixsterman
    I had heard that Oldboy was violent and gory. I suppose that is true, but it's relative to your point of reference. Yes it has violence, but most of it is so over-the-top that it is actually comic. Yes it has gore but, much like Hitchcock's Psycho, good editing t... read morericks you into 'seeing' more than you actually do. Plus, like I've said many times before, I don't mind a little blood and guts if it advances the story and isn't just for shock value. This is smart horror done right. A well written, fantastically constructed film that, no doubt, is destined to be poorly imitated by some profit-driven Hollywood studio in the very near future.
  • TomBowler
    December 27, 2010
    TomBowler
    Disturbing, twisted, violent, beautiful, haunting. And you thought Kick-Ass was a dark comic book movie. Full review later.
  • gokhale1
    October 31, 2010
    gokhale1
    Based on a Japanese 'manga', 'Oldboy', this South Korean shock-thriller of the same name is one of the most powerful stories of vengeance I have ever come across.

    Oh Dae-Su mysteriously disappears one night from a phone booth as he speaks to his family, inspite of his friend J... read moreoo-Hwan being with him when the incident occurs. Dae-Su finds himself in confinement in a room. Dae-Su is not given any explanation as to why he is locked up, no one ever speaks to him. They only keep feeding him with fried dumplings which are given to him through a narrow opening in the locked door. All he has for company is a television set!

    Little does he know what's in store for him, when one day, he is suddenly set free by his captors, after a whole 15 years, again without any explanation. He is slowly presented with clues which lead him to his kidnapper, who does reveal himself, but does not provide any explanation as to why he did what he did to Dae-Su. The kidnapper then goes on to present Dae-Su with the challenge of finding out why Dae-Su was imprisoned. He threatens him and states that he has to do this task of unraveling the mystery in just five days.

    What follows next is Dae-Su's quest for discovering the shocking truth and the kidnapper's motives forms the major crux of this shattering story in all of the second half.

    This is not your ordinary, run of the mill Asian action movie. Although it may seem to be so in the first half; as the mystery begins to unravel, you realize that this is something totally out of the box, extraordinary and unique! The complete package comes as a brutal, disturbing but gripping tale of revenge that is bound to haunt you for a long long time after the movie ends.

    Min-sik Choi delivers an outsanding performance as Oh Dae-Su; Yu Ji-Tae as the antagonist, Woo-jin does a great job as well.

    Chung-hoon Chung's cinematography is brilliant, so is the editing by Sang-Beom Kim. The original music by Hyun-jung Shim is mesmerizing to say the least! Chan-wook Park is already an acclaimed director and he does a brilliant job of directing this film and packs the kind of punch that is required for this kind of story.

    This movie is certainly not for the squeamish or the faint of heart. But if you do have the stomach for some no-holds-barred violence, then go rent it or own it! It is an intense experience, not to be missed!

    9/10.
  • FrizzDrop
    October 5, 2010
    FrizzDrop
    I watched the first half in Korean with subtitles, and the seond half in dubbed English, so I have mixed emotions. Overall, this film changed my entire persona. I felt things unreal and unsettling, which has not happened with a viewing in some time. I can't say that I knew what w... read moreas going to happen next, or what the plot was always trying to convey, or who the characters really were under their strange shells. Yet, this is just one of those films that grabs you, shakes you, and plants you back to Earth.

View All Oldboy Reviews

Critic Reviews

J. R. Jones
April 17, 2007
J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader

There's a lot less here than meets the eye. Full Review

Roger Moore
June 10, 2005
Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel

It's mesmerizing and discomfiting, engaging the viewer on a visceral and an intellectual level. Full Review

Bob Townsend
June 2, 2005
Bob Townsend, Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A visually beguiling trip that keeps pulling you along and keeps you wondering what fresh hell could possibly come next. Full Review

Stephen Hunter
May 20, 2005
Stephen Hunter, Washington Post

Its magnificence is that it takes itself dead serious. It's not entertainment, but it's sure a piece of toughness. Full Review

Kerry Lengel
April 28, 2005
Kerry Lengel, Arizona Republic

Combining the sinister suspense of Alfred Hitchcock with the unrepentant violence of Quentin Tarantino, South Korean director Park Chan-wook delivers a revenge tale as shocking as it is thought-provok... Full Review

Geoff Pevere
April 15, 2005
Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star

While one might argue that it loses credibility and impact as it reaches further along the ledge of outrageous, tummy churning plot developments, there's no denying the turbulence it creates. Full Review

Walter V. Addiego
April 15, 2005
Walter V. Addiego, San Francisco Chronicle

Deserves to be seen because of its relentless energy, the acting by Choi Min-sik that strikes a genuinely tragic note amid the mayhem and cartoonish excess, and the director's clear conviction that th... Full Review

Ty Burr
April 15, 2005
Ty Burr, Boston Globe

For a while, though, this is as invigorating -- and as darkly funny -- as modern rogue moviemaking gets. Full Review

Terry Lawson
April 8, 2005
Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press

A revenge film like none you have seen. Full Review

Tom Long
April 8, 2005
Tom Long, Detroit News

Exults in its own audaciousness, in its abandonment of convention and flaunting of unexpected intelligence.

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

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    • Oh Dae-Su: Laugh and the world laughs with you. Weep, and you weep alone.
    • Lee Woo-Jin: Your gravest mistake wasn't failing to find the answer. If you keep asking the wrong questions, you'll never find the right answer.
    • Oh Dae-Su: Revenge is good for your health, but pain will find you again.
    • Oh Dae-Su: Even though I'm worse than a beast, don't I deserve to live?
    • Oh Dae-Su: Laugh and the world laughs with you. Weep and you weep alone.
    • Oh Dae-Su: If they had told me it was going to be fifteen years, would it have been easier to endure?
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  • Which movie is this quote from? "Even though I'm no more than a monster - don't I, too, have the right to live?"  Answer »
  • What live animal does Dae-Su Oh eat in Oldboy?  Answer »
  • What movie features someone eating a live, wriggling octopus?  Answer »
  • What famous quote was used in the movie Oldboy:  Answer »
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