Magnificent, one of my favourite Asian films.

Rating: 9/10 (2 October 2005)

Oldboy just blew me away. A month earlier I had seen Seven Samurai and Spirited Away, which are both great films, but Oldboy topped them both in my opinion. I can understand why a lot of people might not like this, but for me it was just everything a great film should be, a good plot, well paced, well acted and with a great soundtrack as well. It was a film which I watched again the day after I saw it for the first time, it had that impression on me.
The premise seemed intriguing, a man is kidnapped for what seems to be no reason and is locked away for 15 years. Then he's released and has to find out what the reason was for his kidnapping. When I saw this plot outline and that it was listed in the top 100 here in the IMDb, I was eager to check it out. In a sense, I got the wrong idea about it, I thought it would be very violent and gory like other Asian Extreme films, and I had heard many people criticising this film for just being out to shock with its violence. I don't really understand this, I winced when a close-up was shown of a person's tooth being pulled out, and it is a violent film, but from what I'd heard I was expecting a lot more violence and I don't see why people make such a big deal out of it.
There are many memorable scenes in this film, an infamous one-take corridor fight is one of them, as the main character Dae-Su Oh takes on a bunch of guys with a hammer. I mentioned how the film is well-paced, and it is, Dae-Su is taken out of the blue, some time is given to showing the conditions he is locked up in, and then he's released, finding out small parts of information that eventually build to this awesome climax. Many climaxes feel rushed, but the two hour film makes sure the whole last half hour is taken up by its climax, meaning it rounds it all off well, and it's one of the best endings I've seen.
Every scene is acted well by Min-Sik Choi, who is good all the way through but really shows off his acting talents in the climax where he's just magnificent. However, Ji-tae Yu is often overlooked and he's also excellent in this, his character is a very 3-dimensional villain with different emotions. Ji-tae Yu is creepy when he needs to be creepy, but also allows us to feel sympathy for his character in places. The villain is really what makes this film work, he isn't just a 2D character thrown in to make it a bit more difficult for the hero, he's just as interesting and integral to the story as Dae-Su himself.
The score by Yeong-Wook Jo is also a crucial part of the film, for me it's one of the best of this decade so far. The music is always there, always fitting the mood of what is happening on screen, but it's in the last half hour when it becomes amazingly memorable. The music playing at the ending and over the credits is brilliant, and there's one scene in particular where the music combined with the scene is so memorable that it now sends shivers up my spine whenever I hear the music now.
I thought this film lived up to all the hype and I think it deserves its place in the IMDb's top 100, everything about it is above average. It's well made and very entertaining, make sure you see it before anybody spoils it for you.