A Very Interesting Movie

Rating: 8/10 (8 March 2006)

I just recently saw Oldboy and thought it was amazing. The plot is incredible, with twists throughout the movie. For those who say that the violence was unnecessary, did you even consider the fact that the excessive violence is meant to demonstrate a man who is becoming a monster? The way that the main character acts is just exhibiting his new personality, that of a Monster, a beast. True, the whole thing about him becoming amazing at fighting after fifteen years of shadow boxing was stretching it, but that can be ignored. The fight scenes and the torture just shows the monster inside of Dae-Su. Other people have said that the story doesn't have a moral. Does every movie have to have a moral? Does every great piece of literature have a moral? There was an Oedipus reference before, what was the "Moral" of Oedipus Rex? In addition, the whole hypnosis was a Deus ex machina, but so what? It served its purpose as a plot device, as well as introduced a point of discussion for the end. What would you have done? Could you deal with the realization that Oh Dae-Su faced? Or would you go the "easy way out" and forget if you could? Instead of just looking at the "weaknesses", look at what is shown and for what reason. This movie is amazing.