Dark, disturbing, brilliant.

Rating: 9/10 (13 March 2013)

Oldboy is a Korean film based on the Japanese Manga of the same name. It is definitely one of the more known Korean films that has been released in recent history which I believe established Park Chan-woo's name to the rest of the world. As it's a really tightly wound plot with twist and turns galore, I'll just say that it centres around vengeance and revenge in a dark manner.
First off, Choi Min-sik delivers one of the best performances I've seen in a long time. The desperation, hope and then hopelessness, joy, despair and weakness are all played out with such commitment that you feel it with him. Yu Ji-Tae, the antagonist, plays a rather more understated role but I felt he had such presence that I looked forward to his appearances. The 2 leads carry most of the film and it really just centres around them both.
The cinematography is definitely different to what I've seen and it was refreshing. The Manga influence shows through with most shots towards the end, and I'm sure they were close to how it was portrayed in the manga. Then there is that famous one-shot fight scene that's pretty impressive when you think about it. It has caught a bit of flak for the excessive violence and sex scenes but I felt they just added more to the plot and keeping the viewer immersed. Definitely a must-watch.