Thursday, October 27, 2005

Oldboy

Film: Oldboy (2003)
Dir: Chan-wook Park
Tagline: 15 years in a jailcell; only 5 days to seek revenge.
Rating: ****1/2 out of 5 stars



It's pretty obvious by now that Asians make better movies than us. This one is no exception.

What impresses me most about Oldboy is Park's direction. Absolutely stunning! It's a real goddamn shame that he turned down the Evil Dead remake - that would have been incredible! The acting is also really good, especially Min-sik Choi who intitially caught my attention in the trailer because he reminds me of Gary Oldman for some reason.

If you haven't heard of the movie, here is the basic premise: Man is locked away for fifteen years and he has no idea why. One day he is released and told he must find out who did this to him or suffer the consequences. So he sets out to solve the mystery and seek revenge.



Some of the movie gets really confusing and weird. But by the end it all comes together, and the twist ending is quite a mindfuck. And the more I thought about it afterwards, the more and more it disturbed me. It's pretty cool.

The plot is engaging, Choi is hella fun to watch, and there is enough fighting and gore to satisfy bloodhounds like myself. But most of all, Park's style is what makes this film. I hear Hollywood wants to remake it in America, but no matter how good that might be, it'll never recapture the feel of this one. Park is one talented dude and I just keep praying he'll change his mind about Evil Dead.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Who really should be directing Evil Dead is Eli Roth.

-Alex

Anonymous said...
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Heather said...

ha, yeah, I wish! Or Edgar Wright (he did Shaun of the Dead and has a nice skill for black comedy in horror)