A brutal, haunting, dark and brilliantly twisted masterpiece

Rating: 10/10 (10 December 2014)

This demented Korean revenge thriller is one of the rare movies which despite being absolutely full of graphic violence, unpleasant scenes and shocking twists is still brilliant, strangely beautiful and captivating. Oldboy tells the story of a man held in solitary confinement for 15 years, who is released without explanation and is given 5 days to find the identity of his captor and find out the truth. The truth hurts. Oldboy is a strange, powerful and twisted tale of revenge. It starts off slow and will to be too much for some to take, but it's not quite as bad as you've probably heard in terms of the violence, although the plot is brutal and disturbing. Oldboy is a hypnotically brilliant movie in almost every way and manages not to feel like mean spirited trash. Oldboy is an incredibly powerful film because of the emotions it depicts. Almost a foreign Get Carter, it's captivating due to its convincing portrayal of the extremes of human emotions and powerful performances.
The various actors in the film, who I haven't encountered as I'm not at all familiar with Korean cinema, are extraordinary. The main character is flawed and well rounded, while the villain is one of the sickest and most disturbing on screen bad guys ever. It's got a twisty and unpredictable plot, leading one of the most shocking twist endings of all time. The fascinating and brilliant story is what makes the film so memorable, but Chan-Wook Park creates a visually brilliant and utterly nightmarish canvas for the story to unfold on. The film looks absolutely extraordinary and although it's not an action based film, the one take corridor fight sequence is 3 minutes of beautiful, badass combat I'll never forget. Oldoby, overall, is a twisted, haunting masterful revenge tale with the power of a hammer blow between the eyes. A true nightmare you won't want to wake up from, this is a perfect example of how to make bleak art. A masterpiece.
10/10