Over-hyped, unfortunately. Deritative.

Rating: 8/10 (5 June 2017)

This well-made film which took the world by storm failed to enthuse me for a very simple reason: I could clearly see traces of other films in the plot and the twists in it, hence bringing down the effectiveness of the story and making the whole experience enjoyable, yet a bit lackluster, sadly.
This is a pretty sound thriller in the vein of other similar Asian movies that have come before and after. The pacing is very good, the characters well-played and memorable, and the story, while pushing a little too much the realism envelope, is still (somewhat) believable but, most of all, quite gripping. A couple of scenes are actually brilliant.
However there is no sugarcoating it. The plot, while not a copy- paste, is *very* derivative of a Brian De Palma film called Obsession (1976), which was itself clearly inspired by Hitchcock's Vertigo. While the similarity between those two films has always been quiet apparent, I found Oldboy to be even more clearly inspired by De Palma's movie.
We've seen this before, from the Lion King's clear echoes of Tezuka's Kimba the White Lion to Battle Royale lending more than a few traits to The Hunger Games. Not to mention how much Hollywood borrowed from Satoshi Kon's work, with Black Swan and Inception recalling a fair bit the Japanese master's Perfect Blue and Paprika.
Curiously enough, this time it was an Asian director borrowing from an American peer. Could this be the reason so many have given him a pass? It might help that Obsession is not that well-known outside of film aficionados, but it did take away a lot of the effectiveness of Oldboy for me. As such, I find its rating to be much higher than reasonable.
(+) Captivating characters, great pacing, good visuals, a couple of memorable scenes, all in all, a well-made film.
(-) Its plot and twists are way too reminiscent - if not outright a copy of - other movies, which mixed with a few elements a tiny bit too fantastic, makes it undeserving of its legendary status.