Oldboy (Blu-ray) (2005)

"Startling and amazing -- a cinematic hammer to the skull.  M.E. Russell, Portland Oregonian
"...a movie of such jaw-dropping violence, wild improbability and dazzling style it overpowers all resistance.  Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune
"Anguished, beautiful and desperately alive, Oldboy is a dazzling work of pop-culture artistry.  Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com
"Park's direction is flawless and Jung Jung-hoon's cinematography is stunning.  V.A. Musetto, New York Post
"...arrives with the Quentin Tarantino seal of approval...  Walter Addiego, San Francisco Chronicle

Editor's Note It would be a sin to reveal too much about this riveting and bizarre thriller from Korean director Chan Wook Park, except to say that it's about a man named Dae-Su (Choi Min-Sik) who is locked in a hotel room for 15 years without knowing his captor's motives. When he is finally released, Dae Su finds himself still trapped in a web of conspiracy and strangeness. His own quest for vengeance becomes tied in with romance when he falls for an attractive sushi chef (Gang Hye-Jung), who feeds him live octopus and who may or may not be involved with the bizarre mystery. This is all served up in a striking palette of purples and dark reds; oozing with post-neo-noir style, and stuffed with insanely malicious twists and turns. Choi Min-Sik is terrific in the lead, counterbalancing over-the-top hysterics with deadpan cool to run the gamut of Asian antihero traits. There are intense fight scenes (Dae Su's favorite weapon is a hammer), look-away moments of torture and self-mutilation, sex, and gallons of black humor. Not for the squeamish, but for those seeking something wholly original and daring, this cinematic entree is alive--it's hard to imagine a better slice of psycho-shock sensationalism.

	Dae-han Ji
	Hye-jeong Kang
	Ji-tae Yu
	Min-sik Choi
	Chan-wook Park - Director
	Dong-ju Kim - Executive Producer
	Jeong-hun Jeong - Cinematographer
	Jo-yun Hwang, et. al. - Screenplay
	Nobuaki Minegishi - Based On Comic Books By
	Sang-Beom Kim - Editor
	Seong-hie Ryu - Production Designer
	Seung-yong Lim - Producer
	Yeong-wook Jo - Original Music By

New York Times
"A master of composition, Mr. Park makes some of the snazziest-looking pulp fiction going." 03/25/2005 p.E14

Entertainment Weekly
"The brio and glee that Koran bad-boy filmmaker Park Chanwook brings to the gaudy psycho-shockeroo OLDBOY is undeniable, even impressive." 04/01/2005 p.51

Chicago Sun-Times
"OLDBOY ventures to emotional extremes, but not without reason." 03/25/2005 p.28

Sight and Sound
"[With] rigorously inventive direction and an emotional undertow that builds to a startling level of intensity." 05/01/2005 p.86

Rolling Stone
"[A]n explosively exciting psychosexual revenge drama from Korean powerhouse Park Chanwook that makes movies feel alive again." 04/07/2005 p.78

Premiere
"Park Chan-Wook is a tremendous craftsman....He ratchets up the sadistic suspense in a variety of fruit flavors." 09/01/2005 p.129

Movieline's Hollywood Life
"Park's direction is bristlingly inventive, and his themes are ancient Greek in scope." 09/01/2005 p.101

Entertainment Weekly
Ranked #5 in Entertainment Weekly's Top Ten DVDs Of The Year -- "Fans of Tarantino and films with surprise endings that are actually surprising should flock to this Korean import..." 12/30/2005 p.126

Rolling Stone
Ranked #10 in Rolling Stone's "Top 25 DVDs Of 2005' -- "[A]n explosively exciting revenge drama..." 12/01/2005 p.98

ReelViews 8 of 10
Oldboy could be considered a mystery. Or a bloody revenge picture. Or a twisted romance. Or a tale of extreme karma. Regardless of how you look at Oldboy, it's unlike anything you are likely to have seen before. Director Park Chan-wook starts with a great premise, and uses it as a springboard for a flawed-yet-compelling yarn of life-and-death, cat-and-mouse games between Oh Dae-su (Choi Min-sik) and his arch-enemy, Lee Wu-jin (Yu Ji-tae), with the beautiful, vulnerable Mido (Kang Hye-jeong) caught in the middle. And, just when you think you know where Oldboy is headed, the film takes a turn designed to foil all expectations...The acting is solid (despite Kang Hye-jeong's tendency to whine) and Park's direction is stylish without going over-the-top. Occasional flaws are evident in his approach (such as during the crowded fight scene I mentioned above), but Oldboy offers such a display of kinetic energy that it's hard not to be swept along. This motion picture isn't for everyone, but it offers a breath of fresh air to anyone gasping on the fumes of too many traditional Hollywood thrillers. - James Berardinelli

Chicago Sun-Times 10 of 10
I am not an expert on the Korean cinema, which is considered in critical circles as one of the most creative in the world...I can say that of the Korean films I've seen, only one ("The YMCA Baseball Club") did not contain extraordinary sadomasochism. "Oldboy" contains a tooth-pulling scene that makes Laurence Olivier's Nazi dentist in "Marathon Man," look like a healer. And there is a scene during which an octopus is definitely harmed during the making of the movie...These scenes do not play for shock value, but are part of the whole. Oh has been locked up for 15 years without once seeing another living person. For him the close presence of anyone is like a blow to all of his senses. When he says in a restaurant, "I want to eat something that is alive," we understand (a) that living seafood is indeed consumed as a delicacy in Asia, and (b) he wants to eat the life, not the food, because he has been buried in death for 15 years..."Oldboy" ventures to emotional extremes, but not without reason. We are so accustomed to "thrillers" that exist only as machines for creating diversion that it's a shock to find a movie in which the action, however violent, makes a statement and has a purpose. - Roger Ebert