One of the finest revenge movies of all time

Rating: 10/10 (29 August 2005)

THIS REVIEW WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS. MASSIVE, MOVIE RUINING SPOILERS. DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE MOVIE.
From the most recent reviews of this movie, it seems that quite a bit of people, instead of paying attention, chose to make a knee jerk reaction to praise they felt was unwarranted, but which was in actuality completely and totally warranted. I just watched Straw Dogs, a highly acclaimed revenge movie from the 70s, and I felt Oldboy was equally comparable in quality and just as strong in story and motivations behind plot elements.
For example, some have stated that Lee Woo-Jin didn't have enough motivation to want to destroy Oh Dae-Su's life. He did. Lee Woo-Jin lost his lover, his closest sibling, and what can only be assumed to be his closest-confidante, and all because of Oh Dae-Su's glib tongue. Oh Dae-Su realizes this at the end, which is why he removes his own tongue and why he supplicates himself to save Mi-do. He realizes that he was in the wrong in that instance, and his lack of discretion irreparably ruined the life of a classmate. Perhaps, due to your thoughts on incest, you believe his life was ruined justly. That is one way to see it, and one I agree with.
But even though Lee Woo-Jin was morally reprehensible and a disgusting individual, he would still have emotions and feelings, feelings which led him to treat Oh Dae-Su as he did. He didn't just want to hurt Oh Dae-Su, he wanted to ruin his life and leave him helpless while he ruined it.
Some have commented on the hypnosis factor of the movie as unrealistic. To that I say... so what? When you watch a movie, you suspend your disbelief. The best picture winner of last year, Million Dollar Baby, completely botched their treatment of intensive care patients and was extremely unrealistic. It was still highly lauded with praise by many movie goers. Movies many times get technical details wrong. If a movie where a man trains himself to be able to fight and then beats down about 20 people all by himself bothers you because the hypnosis factor was a bit unrealistic, then you have some extremely bizarre points of view.
Oldboy was a beautifully shot, wonderfully acted, and carefully plotted movie. Plot holes? Almost none. For such a complex plot, that is quite an achievement. Was it hard to follow? A little... but then again, most people are incapable of following a movie that does not hand them the story in easily digestible bits, so that's not a problem, it is actually a plus.
Maybe some didn't find it had enough action. Maybe others were disturbed by the inclusion of incest. Maybe others just wanted to be different from professional critics. Whatever the case, Oldboy was a fantastic movie. One of the finest revenge movies ever created.