OldBoy DVD Review:

From the very first frame of the film Oldboy will capture your attention. It isn’t just the breathtaking cinematography, unexpected humor, extremely well choreographed fight scenes, or great acting. What makes Oldboy so good is the fact that it has one of the most amazingly cool setups that I have seen in years. The premise sounds almost too good to be true, and is amazingly pulled off with the feeling of a Shakespearian tragedy by the end.

Oh Dae-su is a seemingly normal man, aside from his tendency to drink too much. Other than that he leads a normal life. He has a wife and a young daughter. One night after drinking too much he is abducted and locked in a holding cell. The cell resembles an apartment, with a television and furnishings. He is provided with food and taken care of for fifteen years when he is suddenly released. In all of the time that Dae-su was held captive he never knew what he had done to deserve such a punishment. As soon as he is released Dae-su receives a phone call telling him that he has five days to find out why he was captured and imprisoned.

There are so many amazingly original scenes within the film, both in terms of photography as well as story, it amazes me that more people have not caught on and made it a hit yet. The intricacies within the story are enough for me to place it in the hall of fame for thrillers along with Se7en and Silence of the Lambs. Most remarkable is the intricate fight scene within the hallway in which Dae-su battles a group of armed thugs with no more than a hammer. This scene could have been taken directly from Sword of Doom, a classic samurai film, but this does not lessen the artistic merit of it in the least.

This is the second in Chan-wook Park’s trilogy of vengeance, the first being released in theaters right now. Hopefully we will get a chance to see the third soon to find out if Park’s innate ability to tell horrifically graphic stories in a mesmerizing way hold up.

The DVD transfer for Oldboy looks fantastic, making use of widescreen to show off the fantastic cinematography in all of its glory. The sound is also top notch, with a haunting score and the option of an English dubbed track or Korean with English or Spanish subtitles. The special features include an interview with Park, deleted scenes, a photo gallery, director and cinematographer commentary, and the Oldboy trailer contest winner.



Ryan Izay