a nice experiment in film but ultimately too contrived to be great

Rating: 7/10 (16 May 2006)

Old boy is not a realistic film. Its characters are cut outs from some hyper thriller genre. Its plot twists are obvious devices to move the story along. And if these things mentioned are not important to you than it is likely you will be entertained by everything else; the camera trickery, the shocking torture scenes, and the comic book inspired story.
Old boy is a film made in a Hollywood vein. It is more sensational than anything else. In order to move the characters along Park has placed devices (deus ex machina) with the use of planted cell phones, surprises in boxes, uncovering things the viewer nor the main character, Oh Dae-su, had known. Is this a bad device? No. Its a common device used in many films. Could the story work without these devices? No. And because of this Oldboy works in the thriller genre. Yet Oldboy doesn't surpass any kind of film conventions in this in this genre to receive special praise.
The torture scenes are used more to shock than to tell anything new in the story. An example of a film where torture, very graphic torture, is not some cliché shock device but more so a comment on human relationships, pain, societal indifference, is Takashi Miike's film, Audition.
Lets not be so hasty in disregarding this film as bad, because bad it is not. It has moments. The opening is definitely an attention grabber - a guy holding a poodle being held by his tie from a building rooftop by some dark faced figure, Oh Dae-su's pleading, after finding out the biggest secret (plot twist), where he performs a disturbing masochistic act, and of course the one long take of the fight scene where Dae-su beats up some forty people. All that is cool. And the film throughout was cool, maybe mostly cool for cool's sake, until the end.
So if you're looking for entertainment with torture, blood, sex, fighting, topped with a comic like story of revenge, this film will definitely work for you. And if you are profoundly moved by the genius of this film, I'll be very suspicious. ALl in all, 7 out of 10.