Old Boy (2003)

 

Based on a manga of the same name, director Park Chan-Wook turned the story into a cinematic fever dream of almost epic proportions. It's hard to describe what exactly makes this film so damn good, but it's a lot. The story, the twists and turns, the cinematography, the action, the dark humour strewn throughout... This is one of those films you need to have seen at least once and maybe you can enjoy the everloving fudge out of it. 

It isn't easy on the mind, though. 

Oh Dae-su is our protagonist, and we are introduced to him when he's drunk and sitting in a police station, being a total jerk. It's both funny and annoying. But when he is kidnapped shortly after leaving (like almost five minutes later), things take a turn for the darker. He wakes up in a prison cell that looks a lot like a cheesy hotel room, with no idea how or why he got there. To make things even worse: he is stuck there for 15 years... 

Then one day, with no explanation, he is suddenly on the top of an apartment building, apparently free again. He has no clue who is behind all this. He only knows that in the mean time, his wife has been murdered and the blame placed on him and his daughter is gone. So one would naturally assume he is out for payback.

One would be most emphatically correct.

But things around still feel odd, as apparent random strangers aren't so strange, as they hand him phones, money and messages which all seem to steer him in some direction. It would seem the mastermind behind all this still has a part to play in Oh Dae-su's mangled life. He finds some comfort with a young cook named Mido, but she is as flabbergasted as he is. 

The entire mystery won't be spoiled here, as it is crucial that first time viewers get the full impact of what and how everything happens. 

'Old Boy' is intriguing from start to finish. Choi Min-sik is great as Oh Dae-su, conveying both complete flabbergastedness and a cast iron determination to find out who is responsible for destroying his life. The action scenes are particularly well done, with a big bonus to the infamous hallway scene, where Oh Dae-su fights his way through a large number of thugs with just a hammer and his fists. 

There's a reason that scene often comes up. It is great.

But not only that, there's a lot of twisted humour to be found as well. When Oh Dae-su is first released, he talks to a suicidal man on top of the building, who eventually does jump, but the way in which it is done is sidesplittingly hilarious. 

Told you it was dark.

In short: 'Old Boy' is one of those brilliant oddball films that you should see at least once. Maybe you won't fall in love with it, and maybe you'll find some of the twists and turns a bit much and/or disturbing, but there is little denying this is a really, really well done film.