A film of great power!

Rating: 8/10 (1 January 2005)

I won't join the chorus of thousands hailing this highly effective film a masterpiece, but I must say that it is very fresh, inventive, kinetic film-making.
I like SYMPATHY FOR MR. VENGEANCE more than OLDBOY, though I would also stop short of calling it a masterpiece.
Why? At times, like OLD BOY, it meanders, and I don't think it always has its hands planted firmly on the steering wheel.
Minor grumbles aside, OLDBOY has great power and Chan-wook Park directs with a clear vision and much energy.
Min-sik Choi as Dae-su Oh, a man imprisoned for fifteen years without reason, delivers a performance without affectation.
Much of the film's violence has been discussed and praised. It is brutal and cinematic, and far be it from me to debate whether it is necessary. Of course it's necessary, just as dancing is necessary in a musical.
The scene is which Choi fights dozens of opponents in a narrow hallway -- staged in a continuous shot -- is a textbook example of fight choreography.
The director's greatest achievement is the film's grim, unrelenting tone and penetrating focus on his protagonist's deteriorating mental state. Choi's quest for justice is heart-wrenching without ever being mawkish. His journey is a cruel but necessary one.
This is not, primarily, a revenge tale, despite the fact that Choi does seek retribution.
It is a tale of extreme dislocation. Extremely well told.