After seeing The Handmaiden and discussing it on episode 005 of the Movie Club Podcast, Oldboy was the next step in the Chan-wook Park filmography to view. The 2003 film was remade in 2013 in America and featured Josh Brolin in place of Min-sik Choi as the lead character. The film has some great cinematography, by Chung-hoon Chung, and a very compelling story that has its share of twists. The performances are also very strong especially by Choi and the antagonist portrayed by Ji-tae Yu.
Oldboy is a crazy tale of vengeance
The movie opens with a silhouetted man holding another’s tie, which is the only thing keeping him from falling to his death. There isn’t a lot of information available here, but the character in charge says I want to tell you my story. Thus, the audience is whisked away in a flashback to meet Oh Dae-su (Choi) who is drunk and in police custody. It’s not clear at first, but this is the same man with the wild mane of hair who is holding the others tie.
It’s not long before he is abducted and taken to an apartment prison. His story continues and is extremely compelling and provocative. The character wants to know why he’s in there and for how long, both questions the audience also wants explained. They gas him on occasions and he has access to TV, which is how he learns he has been framed for his wife’s murder.
Anyone could go crazy living like Oh Dae-su did
Through voice over, which is actually Dae-su telling the story to the man on the building, we learn he will have been imprisoned in that apartment for fifth teen years. This may sound like spoilers, but it’s really not. This gets you to the first act and Dae-su waking up on the roof where we met him to find a man ready to commit suicide. Dae-su rescues him long enough to tell him his story, but then walks away to leave the man to his own decisions.
This film is about vengeance. Oh Dae-su seeks to find out the man who imprisoned him and destroy him. Then the story of why did the man imprison him becomes a central element of the story and echoes the theme of vengeance. The pure destructive capabilities of vengeance is illustrated in this film in both the external and internal. Vengeance crushes anyone in the way of the retribution it seeks, but it also feeds on the inside of those possessed by it. A powerful lesson to learn in an intriguing way that left me with my mouth agape.
Not an action movie, but there is some action
Oldboy isn’t a perfect film with its biggest weakness being the fight choreography. There is a great hallway fight sequence that is filmed from the side that is reminiscent of old side scrolling video games. However, the fight feels very improvised and a lot of the nameless thugs are just hopping around aimlessly and throwing away their weapons. After seeing awesome hallway fight choreography in films like The Raid: Redemption and the Netflix original series Daredevil, this one leaves you wanting more.
Though the fights aren’t great, that really isn’t what this film is about. The story is extremely compelling and the acting is excellent. The story that offers Oh Dae-su hope is the love story with Mi-do (Hye-jeong Kang) thanks to an unlikely meeting. Their story is not a simple one as Oh Dae-su has trust issues after his 15 year imprisonment. Yet, Mi-do helps him try and find some sense of normalcy after emerging from his isolation to a world that has changed substantially.
Final Thoughts
Oldboy is currently on Netflix and is definitely worth a watch. It is the second film in Chan-wook Park’s Vengeance Trilogy, which is connected only by the theme of vengeance. After seeing Oldboy and The Handmaiden, it is likely that the rest of his trilogy will be viewed. Oldboy earns the rating of Not Quite Golden, Ponyboy.
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