Oldboy Review. 8.3

(As seen on DENT. magazine)

Locked in a room for 15 years... What would you do?
If you combine dramatic scenes of pain and desperation, heart wrenching emotion, gritty realism and top it all off with unspeakable violence, you get the South Korean thriller Oldboy. The spectacle, originally based on Japanese manga comics entitled the same, pulls together a range of different genres and imagery allowing it to be a full-blown intensifying experience.

The chilling plot unravels itself when an average man, Oh Dae-Su, is kidnapped and imprisoned in a solitary room for 15 years, without reason. Having no contact with the outside world, he is left to rot, questioning why he deserves such a cruel and twisted fate. After a gruelling time spent in confinement, a confused, enraged and rather sexually frustrated Oh Dae-Su is thrown back into the real world, soon discovering he has as little as 5 days to uncover the truth for his incarceration.

Throughout the film Oh Dae-Su faces true torment as he attempts to uncover the answers surrounding his imprisonment. He marches on a viscous revenge path, hammer in hand, he attempts to find the monster that deemed it acceptable to destroy everything in his life. Along the way there are some squeamish scenes not for the faint hearted as well as some iconic camera work which witnesses a fight scene like no other.

This stunning piece of filmmaking is brilliantly written as the harrowing story of one man’s life crumbling beneath him, unfolds in an outstanding fashion. Every inch of the film should be credited, from symbolic imagery and iconography, to imaginative camera work  all of which is structured within an emotional format that sends audiences spinning out of their seats. Scenes have been grafted so intently that there is a remembrance about each shot. This beautiful piece of filmmaking truly deserves the positive accolades it upholds and sets an example for how precise cinema should be.

Recently a remake of the 2003 phenomenon was announced with Spike Lee named as the leading director. His previous successful works have included the likes of Malcolm X (1992) and 25^th Hour (2002) but if he desires to remake something even remotely in the same class to Oldboy then he will have his work cut out for him. Critics may suggest that the production may be best left untouched; however, it may make an interesting watch to see how it compares to highly rated original.