Synopsis: While out drinking one night, a man gets kidnapped and imprisoned in a small room for 15 years. One day he is suddenly released and he begins an obsessive quest for vengeance - he tries to uncover who was behind his imprisonment and why - but it turns out the kidnapper has further plans for him...
My take: I decided to check this one out because of all the hype about it being the film that 'inspired' the Virginia Tech shootings in 2007. The power of the media to influence behavior is a no-brainer, but it is such a leap to blame a film for one individual's depraved actions. However, this is a discussion for elsewhere. Oldboy is certainly well-reviewed and has won lots of awards, so I thought it was worth a shot. Not really having been familiar with Asian cinema at the time that I first saw this, it was definitely not what I expected. There were many WTF moments, especially early on due to the stylish but abrupt editing and probably because of language issues (it felt like I was watching a Dario Argento story for a while). The plot was pretty far-fetched and disorganized and the acting wasn't great, but the overall package was very interesting. It did hit on the revenge theme in a more thoughtful way than I anticipated. I didn't think it was very violent at all - little is shown on-screen and even then, its never extra-gory. I don't really see the VA Tech connection, but as I said, that was a single, depraved mind. Oldboy is the center of the director's Vengeance trilogy (Sympathy for Mr.Vengeance and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance being the other two) - people rave about Oldboy being the best, but I actually thought the the other two were far better.Most disgusting thing I've seen in a movie, ever: When the main character eats a live octopus. This is apparently fairly common in Korean restaurants, but still...
"Laugh and the world laughs with you. Weep and you weep alone."
2 1/2 out of 4 Zombie Faces
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