Hype? Did you take a time machine back to 2004?
Maybe I’ll add two quick responses: the meaninglessness of the situation which gave rise to the whole thing is precisely the point of the film. And, two, criticizing the film for being far-fetched makes no sense in a stylized manga universe that is obviously not meant to be confused with the logic of our own world.
It’s over the top and off the wall, and for the most part I could dig the insane violence and vengeance. But I must admit that the ending let me down. It’s so trifling and leads to such queasy results that I was just thrown out of the film. A ninety-five percent brilliant manga, but oh, that five percent!
I’m probably gonna alienate myself from everybody on this board, but anyway:
I think Oldboy is a masterpiece, a work of genius, that I see literally no mistake in: cinematography, editing, use of music, acting, stylization, everything is perfect.. And the movie is not about the damn twist, though I must admit I did not see it coming, it’s about everything that builds up to it…
It will remembered as an absolute classic in thirty years or even less.
And I think the film would have gotten a LOT more praise by hardcore cinephiles, if it was not the only korean film a slightly more than average film-goer could name (or if it was less hyped, as the op put it).
I agree with fandorin-san in every way. Oldboy is my favorite film of all time. A masterpiece.
I think Park shoots a scene from every angle possible Penny Marshall style and tries to paper over his lack of talent in the editing room. There’s no way else to explain his seemingly completely arbitrary mise-en-scene.
I haven’t seen it since I lent my copy out to someone and they ran off with it (bastardo!), but I used to really love this movie. I’ve since seen many more Korean films that I think are probably better (and I didn’t like Mr. or Lady Vengeance at all), but I need to revisit it soon.
Since when does a movie (or an “art house” picture) have to absolutely be based within some sense of reality? The situation Oh Dae-su finds himself in, and really the rest of the movie, is all a big “what if” scenario.
If any one is let down by the movie, that’s fine and dandy, because “Oldbody” is certainly not without its faults. The characters aren’t fully fleshed out as personalities, and the movie does rely a lot on its stylization and artifice for a lot of its entertainment value. But who cares if the movie doesn’t spend more time showing that he’s been imprisoned for 15 years?
Mild Spoiler
And what exactly is silly about the suicide within the movie being the impetus for the antagonist’s rampage? That was pretty darn crushing for me to watch, and when Oh Dae-su gets caught in the antagonist’s web and realizes the consequences at the end, that was pretty darn heavy storytelling.
End Mild Spoiler
I don’t see how in the world “Oldboy” can be somehow faulted for being unrealistic, when I think its over-the-top stylization, situations and characterizations should clearly signal that that is not what the movie is going for. The reason I liked it so much, and why I think it’s so good, is because it gets its emotional punch by asking the viewer to identify with Oh Dae-su in its gnarly “what if” scenario.
It’s not some kind of character study that probes the ticks and motivations for all parties involved.
Learn2Swim, how in the world could you have ever expected realism out of “Oldboy” if you actually watched (and had a basic comprehension of) the first 10 minutes of the movie?
Every movie in the Vengeance trilogy is about how vengeance is planned and executed carefully and considerately over long periods of time—only to provide absolutely no catharsis for character or audience. For what it’s worth, I find Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance to be the best of the works BECAUSE it’s more realistic, but Oldboy is a stylish masterwork in that it builds that self-same comic-book aura that you expect from a Batman or Spider-Man (the lines drawn on the frame, the psychedelic buggy thing, and yes, the framing of most of the movie, where the character is blocked in squares and rectangles that seem to reflect the frames of a comic book better than Ang Lee did in Hulk), and then takes the Count of Monte Cristo inspired heroic tale and punches you in the gut with a Greek tragedy twist.
I’ve found that if there’s any significant difference between Eastern and Western culture, it’s their ideas of vengeance and justice. In most Korean and Japanese movies I’ve seen, vengeance is simply not satisfying; whereas even in our “questioning justice” movies like Taxi Driver, the lead character, no matter how monstrous, is always considered a hero from someone (Taxi Driver, Hard Candy, and the Boondock Saints, for a cross-section. All of them have honestly deplorable characters win out against even more deplorable characters, and in the case of each is considered a hero, from the parents in Taxi Driver to God-knows what the audience is thinking in The Boondock Saints). Oldboy whets your appetite for comic book justified vengeance and then traps you in its own speculation, and for what it’s worth I doubt you’ll forget it.
—PolarisDiB
Oldboy has an intriguing concept held up almost single handedly by the squid, and hallway scene, and that’s why it has more prestige than any other vengeance story. I won’t doubt Park’s ability to make interesting cinema, but he’s become (or maybe always been one) a coolist with a good sense of mise en scene who’s style takes too much precedence over the underlying messages that he always seems to be trying to show.
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance was my favorite in the series.
What hype? Certainly any ‘hype’ I’ve seen is created by ans of the movie rather than the filmmakers. Old Boy was a kick in the guts to cinema in the way Reservoir Dogs was back in the day. It’s extremely well made and if the violence puts you off … fair enough. But it’s alsoa movie that broke out of the arthouse crowd to become a fan-favourite, even amonst those that hate subs (there’s no dub – thank god – that I’m aware of. The only question I ask is whether it’s the best film of the trilogy. Lady Vengeance is my current fave, though Old Boy has perhaps everything going for it. And Sympathy for Mr Vengeance actually gets better on repeat viewing as the story becomes clearer and you pick up on the little touches. However gotta admit I’m a Cyborg currently leaves me a little cold.
Oh and btw … A Bittersweet Life is better than Old Boy!!!!
OLD BOY …..is really Fantastic and a master piece of work in the life of PARK CHAN-WOOK .i thoroughly enjoyed it especially the music …and i here wanna make a point that ……. we have no right to comment on the FILM COZ IT’S SOME MONTHS OF WORK PUT BY DIRECTOR AND WE WATCHING IT IN 2HOURS AND COMMENTING ON IT IS RIDICULOUS and better to compliment it……
^lol ok.
i really hate to think the Oldboy is what people epitomize South Korean cinema as…it’s depressing (well, the movie is…) Oldboy is good but not perfect…it was so “out there” for me that I probably wouldn’t have a problem not watching it again…on the other hand, I really enjoy Bong Joon-ho’s films, especially Memories of Murder and the Host, because it really doesn’t take it to the extreme which I feel that many Asian directors and writers are trying to do these days…trying to shock people more and more. eh.
“we have no right to comment on the FILM COZ IT’S SOME MONTHS OF WORK PUT BY DIRECTOR AND WE WATCHING IT IN 2HOURS AND COMMENTING ON IT IS RIDICULOUS and better to compliment it……”
The only compliment I can give it is that it’s only two hours.
I’m glad the rumored Hollywood remake seems to have died.
I think that Oldboy is vaaaastly overrated! I did not like it or “get it” rather since it seems to have a lot of fans…I guess they probably also liked Kick-Ass which has a similar tone
I’m not a die-hard fan of the film, but the hallway fight scene is fantastic.
I love everything about the film, but there are 3 things that really stuck out to me:
1) The performances were incredible. The villain’s final scene is heart wrenching.
2) The cinematography. Nearly every single shot of this film deserves to be framed and hung on a wall IMO.
3) It has what is easily my favorite film score of all time. I’m not at all the kind of person who listens to film scores outside of a film, but this soundtrack is absolutely beautiful, and is probably one of the most listened to CDs I’ve ever owned. And I don’t like classical very much at all, I usually stick to hipster bands like Arcade Fire, with the occasional folk or metal. But that score man…
the film takes extreme cicumstances and stylism to illustrate the tragic, yet undeniable, nature of vengance. the “hype” surrounding the film is deserved, beautifully violent.
“because it really doesn’t take it to the extreme which I feel that many Asian directors and writers are trying to do these days…trying to shock people more and more. eh.”
Byambasuren Davaa, Jafar Panahi and Xingjian Gao would disagree with you (speaking of Asian writers and directors)
Yeah, if your impression is formed by the fact that international distributors prefer importing shocking films that can sell, it might not be too legitimate to throw around that statement.
“we have no right to comment on the FILM COZ IT’S SOME MONTHS OF WORK PUT BY DIRECTOR AND WE WATCHING IT IN 2HOURS AND COMMENTING ON IT IS RIDICULOUS and better to compliment it”
So we should compliment it just because the director worked for months on it? Well, by that logic, we can’t criticise any film ever released.
Michael Bay is a GENIUS.
wait…they’re not remaking it anymore? wooohooo!
Honestly I was interested to see the Spielberg/Smith version that was in talks for a while. Will Smith needs a good role like this to show off that he’s more then just the “Awwww hell naww” guy. I don’t think it wouldve been comparable at all, but it would’ve been interesting at least.
please…they would have figured out a way to get rid of all the things about that movie that made it “shocking” in the first place. i don’t think americans would really go for…are we doing spoilers here?
smart story, good twist, nice cinematography….
I’m just so happy Djohary used the search function and added to an old thread. Good work, man!
Yeah Old Boy is one of those bad films with a great reputation.
Relied a little too much on the twist instead of overall excellence.
I like the other 2 in the revenge trilogy better. Though all 3 nonetheless have great visuals.
Learn2Swim
Last night I decided that there was too much hype about Oldboy to ignore. I watched it and as most times when it comes to hype, it let me down. I think people make too much fuss about those type of sick, and yes, clever twists. Oldboy lacks depth in every aspect. The main character is boring and unsympathetic, even after being imprisoned for 15 years. The movie goes through the imprisonment really fast and the audience doesn’t really get to the point of empathy. The antagonist seems interesting, but he doesn’t have much time in the movie, and whatever time he does spend on-screen, is spent trying to make him as inhuman as possible, without much character development. I think that he would’ve made a much more interesting main character, since he is truly out for vengeance and has a reason other than curiosity, which I find to be pretty trivial.
The plot of the movie is not very complicated once the truth has been revealed, and I couldn’t help but think that most of the movie is just about procrastinating the revealing climax. When I found out the reason for the whole vengeance against Oh Dae-Su, I felt cheated and lied to. How can they make a movie about such a SILLY thing? What is there to learn if the whole plot is based on a meaningless situation? The plot points are also extremely vague and in no way help the backstory. The use of hypnosis, as well, is just a way to make such unreal and unlikely events plausible, sort of as a deus ex machina.
I’ll give it cleverness, but not as much as I was led to believe by the hype. All in all, Oldboy is too far fetched to be very impacting to anyone who isn’t seeking a cheap thrill with sick and meaningless imagery.
I’d like to know other thoughts and views about it since it has been so acclaimed and talked about.