definitely at least a 9

Rating: 9/10 (20 March 2005)

to try and contribute to the discussion whether the film is overrated, let's have a word on what ratings are supposed to mean: in my eyes, an "alltime rating" like this one should consider whether a movie achieved something more than telling a good story in nice images (always considering the background (for example the time) of its production) way more than personal taste. having said that, i also disagree on the overall rating at some points, for example when i see that a masterpiece like wong kar wai's "in the mood for love" hardly makes it into the top 250. in case of "oldboy" i don't see where this movie should be overrated - it just made it into the top 100 and i think it's well positioned there. oldboy is the second part of a trilogy on the topic of vengeance, and like the first beautiful part "sympathy for mr. vengeance" the director achieves to use highly interesting imagery, impressing camera work and cut, a "close-to-arrogant" amount of metaphors and all this on a very thoughtful, twisted plot. the NEW thing: it is not that weird "art-cinema" some European directors would deliver but still highly entertaining, telling strictly ONLY what is needed to understand the story. If you are a film freak, you will definitely not regret seeing this one, even if you don't like it - because from an objective perspective it is ambitioned and well-done cinema. if you just want to entertain yourself and you are into thriller/twisted stories and - basic! - you are not afraid of movies leaving the already known paths of Hollywood-storytelling-patterns, you will also enjoy this a lot. It is a clear nine with a tendency towards ten. a masterpiece, and i cant wait for part 3 of the trilogy.