Buttressed by one of the gnarliest denouements in modern cinema, “Oldboy” has the style to entice and the storytelling chops to leave one in awe.

Whether it does leave you in awe or just turns your stomach by the end, watching “Oldboy” is a truly unforgettable experience. Only the first of its several plot turns is when the young, married man Oh Dae-Su is stolen away after a drunk evening and locked away for more than a decade for who knows what or why. Once he’s out, he’s understandably consumed with vengeance at who could’ve possibly thrown him away for such a while.

The striking cinematography makes for fluid shifts in setting to serve the narrative, from from sunburned cityscapes and dingy gallows all the way to clean, chic high-tech palaces and back into ghostly flashback sequences. The actors, who mostly are stuck portraying archetypes as opposed to fully fleshed-out personalities, are perfectly fine. They play it straight, as the story calls for them to so often, but Dae-Su’s school days friend, and even the villain, allow for some humorous asides from the vengeful narrative.

There are also the gruesome bits that have reaped much attention on this one, such as Dae-Su munching on a living octopus, and a few men getting their teeth pulled with a hammer. And that’s not even mentioning the unnerving sequence at the heart of its tale.

What makes “Oldboy” so good and memorable is in its resolution. It’s an impressive ride up to a certain point, when you become aware of how it’s relying a bit on its artifice to keep its appeal. But once that resolution comes, it provocatively, but in unspoken terms, asks of its protagonist and the audience, when you have a chance to walk away from it, are revenge and vengeance worth it?

It’s weird calling something wonderful that ends on such a ghastly note, but “Oldboy” is just that. A film with style to burn, burn, burn and the plot and story to elevate it to high tragedy.

I don’t think a villain has spoken two sentences in a film, not in a purely fictional work anyway, that leave you so stunned as the one does in “Oldboy.”