20 years later, Oldboy still leaves a memorable mark

The 20th anniversary of Park Chan-wook’s Oldboy has brought the movie back into theaters, in a newly refurbished and remastered 4K version that’s launched plenty of online write-ups on the movie’s historical and cinematic value. Those pieces certainly aren’t wrong — the film’s 2003 release was a watershed moment for Korean cinema in the international market, and its stunningly grim and bloody one-take battle, with the protagonist fighting his way through a hallway jam-packed with mooks, has inspired endless copycats and homages, from Redemption: The Raid to Netflix’s DaredevilYou can also find out more about the following: The Princess and all the way up to James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

Check out the Real Reason to Visit Oldboy in its theatrical run isn’t because it’s an important part of action-movie history, or because it’s a startling and thoughtful spin on a popular manga series. It isn’t even because Old Boy currently isn’t streaming anywhere. The best reason to see it is because it’s one of the most startling and immersive action movies ever made, a film built around an unbeatable mystery and grounded in shockingly raw, frank violence. They are all inspired by Old Boy over the years weren’t just celebrating the innovation of that memorable hallway fight, as if no one had ever thought about people fighting in a hallway before. They’re paying tribute to the way so much of Oldboy’s unforgettable imagery They got their skin.

The movie kicks off with a short introduction that quickly leads to that central mystery — drunken Korean businessman Oh Dae-su (Choi Min-sik) is nabbed by unknown forces and locked in a dilapidated hotel room, with no warning or explanation. As the years pass, he tries to figure out who wronged him, searches for ways of escaping, and gradually loses consciousness. He learns from the television in his room that his family has been destroyed, and that he’s been framed for crimes he didn’t commit. And then he’s abruptly released, again with no warning or explanation. His entire life is gone by then — his job, his home, his wife and child, his friends, his sanity, even his sense of self — and there’s nothing left to do but seek answers. And, obviously, vengeance.

“Roaring rampage of revenge” movies are an incredibly common form of violence fantasy, especially for movies with angry male protagonists channeling an audience’s sublimated desire to be free of societal restraints and family obligations. To Point BlankYou can also find out more about the following: Mad MaxYou can also find out more about the following: TakenJohn Wick is a great example of a cinematic vein that has been mined for dark fantasies about men whose lives have been ruined and who are justified in doing anything to pay back their losses.

You can also read about it here Old Boy stands out in a crowded field because of that core idea, clear from the movie’s first chapter, that whoever turned Oh Dae-su into a single-minded revenge engine did it on purpose. The question of who kidnapped him and why is less mysterious than the question of why he was released, and why there’s a clear trail of narrative breadcrumbs leading him to his captor. These answers still shock 20 years on.

Park Chan Wook has moved onto more gentle (but no less well-crafted) films. Oldboy remains his signature work — the cornerstone of his “vengeance trilogy” of thematically but not narratively linked movies about people going after retribution and losing their humanity in the process. Park’s work opened the doors to international cinema for Korean films, as noted by cinema historians in their anniversary reviews. He also inspired a wave of Korean dark neo noir movies. He taught many directors how to create signature central fighting sequences, in tight spaces where audiences can truly feel the hard-fought victory.

Photo: NEON/YouTube

Few directors have copied Oldboy’s emotionally intense and openly grotesque ending, which taps into deep taboos and presents violence so visceral, it’s hard not to physically feel the worst of it as it’s happening. It’s a movie of extremes, including a still-stunning sequence where Oh Dae-su, in a moment of particularly destructive nihilism, eats a live octopus, tearing it apart with his teeth as it flails against his face. Choi was a vegetarian and devoted Buddhist who ate multiple live octopuses for the shot. It’s the kind of movie that plays a push-and-pull game, putting the protagonist in a situation that should earn him audience sympathy, then making him so grotesque that he becomes an object of revulsion and fascination. It isn’t a movie for the soft-hearted or the easily repulsed.

But it is a movie that leaves a mark — a must for action fans, mystery fans, and extreme-cinema fans, for anyone who’s constantly hoping a movie will surprise and move them. And it’s a must for fans of conspiracy movies who think they all inevitably fall apart in the final act. Park is not afraid to be brutal with Oldboy, and he also doesn’t let the audience down by letting his narrative fall apart or go to rote, obvious places once the mysteries are finally unraveled. Oldboy is a real experience, and it’s worth experiencing in a theater during this window where that’s possible again.

Restored 4K Version of Oldboy Now in limited theatre release.