It is hard to truly understand what to expect when first diving into Park Chan-wook‘s 2003 cult-classic “Oldboy”.

It could be considered a “mystery”, a “bloodthirsty revenge- thriller” or even an ill-fated romance story. Regardless of how you look at “Oldboy” , however, it's predominantly a tale which plays out upon to make viewers revel in horror and contemplate the deeper meanings captured in each spellbinding frame behind this film.

Director Park Chan-wook starts with a great premise, and uses it as a springboard for a flawed-yet-compelling
tale of the our main protagonist Oh Dae-su ( Choi Min-sik)’s surreal and nightmarish journey to discover why he was locked up in a single room for 15 years in solitude. As the tale progresses, we are introduced to the thrilling
cat-and-mouse games between and the mysterious businessman , Lee Wu-jin (Yu Ji-tae), with the vulnerable female love interest Mido (Kang Hye-jeong) caught in the crossfire.

“Oldboy “above all of Chan-Wook’s works, might distract from the events depicted, except they are just as unexpected and unpredictable. Since the story is told from Dae-su's point-of-view, the viewer as much in the dark as he is, and we are just as desperate for answers as Dae-Su. Wu-jin proves to be a top-notch villain. For every move that Dae-su makes, his opponent is at least one step ahead of him with violence typically at the forefront .

On the surface, Park’s variety of filmic bloodshed is represented with animalistic savagery. The director avoids glamorising the content and implies violence by cleverly cutting around the acts themselves. But the gory details are unimportant, thus they are not shown. This is a revenge story much more than making viewers want to wince at the implication of nails being pulled out and severed tongues. Finding a difficult balance between method and story, Park instills purely emotional responses in his viewers and it is truly emotionally exhausting.


Choi Min-sik undeniably captures the brilliance of a man consumed by unbearable, unassuageable emotion with the necessary primal drives towards his own survival and revenge. In one of the movie’s most captivating and violent scenes, Dae-su is shown to hold up a hammer with contemptuous emotions lingering upon his face.
A white dotted line then appears on the screen, joining his weapon and his victim's. Then, the cutthroat action emerges. Park Chan-Wook’s camera follows Dae-Su’s sudden race down a narrow corridor as he takes down dozens of opponents, in an extraordinary moment of cinema and the humanised emotions of Dae-Su’s expressions as he begins his rampage down the hall.

Yet, the true humanity of the movie is served in the relationship between Dae-su and Mido. Kang Hye-jeong did undeniably capture the naive innocence of her role as Mido; a young woman caught up between the role as helper, protector and lover of Dae-Su. Undeniably, however, Hye-Jeong’s acting did sometimes come off a little lacklustre in comparison to her costars Min-Sik and Yu Ji-Tae, however, she was still able to channel the assertion to viewers of “ Oldboy” in later scenes that this this is not your typical love story, and later
revelations for viewers will certainly serve to provide this assertion as true. After all, revenge films, like their subject matter, are "best served cold."

Dae-Su’s true opponent , however, turns out to be a suave sociopath called “Lee” played astoundingly by Yu Ji-tae. Lee is the essence of a brilliant villain who seemingly has everything :money, success, a beautiful apartment and a flawless appearance, yet the call for his own profound role as the true antagonist of the film manifests through a final game with Dae-Su which entails his unusual motives.

The ending is an undeniable cliffhanger, leaving viewers confused and pondering upon Oh Dae-su’s decisions. Left with our uncertainties, Park allows the viewer to pass their own judgment, however, there’s no doubt that any answer comes with its own disturbing spin, leaving the viewer in an uncomfortable position no matter what their outcome.

“ Oldboy” isn't for everyone, but it offers a breath of fresh air to anyone fed up of the predictable and tame setups of Hollywood thrillers. This is a movie drenched in a bloodbath of violence, yet it still balances the scales of contemplative and profound story writing with twists straight out of Shakespeare’s tragedies , and a villain established with his own emotive flaws and interests for viewers. A definite watch.