Old Boy

Greetings, Old Boy is a South Korean film from 2003 and was directed by Par Chan-wook. It is based on a manga of the same title and is the second part in the Vengeance trilogy. Old Boy is placed in between Sympathy for Mr Vengeance and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance but I do not believe that these films are connected in terms of an overarching plot. There was also an American version of the movie that was released in 2013, ten years after the original film had come out to audiences. This remake is set in the United States but it received mixed reviews and was criticized for not adding anything new to the 2003 film or not being as entertaining in comparison to it.

The plot is set in Seoul, the capital of South Korea, and begins in the year 1988. It follows the protagonist named Oh Dae-Su, a drunken business man, who is abducted on the streets during his daughters 4th birthday. The film then reveals that Dae-Su is incarcerated in an apartment complex, isolated from any human contact, and is denied any explanation for his imprisonment. He is occasionally gassed with a drug that causes him to pass out and when he wakes up his hair has been cut by his jailors. One day Oh Dae-Su finds out through a television broadcast that his wife had been murdered and the news bulletin pinned him as the prime suspect. With nothing else he can do the protagonist learns to shadowbox, hardening his fists by hitting the wall and attempting to build an escape route out of the apartment. Throughout the years he tries to identify who did this to him and what possessed them to do it.

15 years after his capture, Oh Dae-Su finds himself in trapped in a box after being drugged by the gas again. He manages to break free and realizes that he is on top of a roof top and dressed in a fashionable suit. Dae-Su receives a call from a mobile phone that had been given to him before he had woken up. The person on the other side of the phone taunts him about his imprisonment and the mystery behind it. The caller is revealed to be the villain who had him locked away for more than a decade but when Dae-Su begins to question the antagonist he receives no answers. Later on Oh Dae-Su goes to a sushi restaurant where he falls unconscious and wakes up in a different apartment. A young female chef, named Mi-Do, took him into her home after he had collapsed in front of her at the restaurant. The two begin to fall for each other as they try to unravel the mystery behind who framed Oh Dae-Su for his wife’s murder, who imprisoned him and why.

Overall, I found the film to be very entertaining with a memorable soundtrack composed by Jo Yeong-wook. The music complements the film very well as it enhances the atmosphere in certain scenes and gives personality to the characters, especially the villain’s theme which gives him a sophisticated demeanour. It certainly had a good balance between humorous scenes, violent fights and outright disturbing moments towards the end of the movie. I generally didn’t know where the film was going to go but I was entertained the whole way through. It was a surprising shock when the plot unravelled and once the plot twist was revealed. I really enjoyed this film and would encourage you to watch it if you haven’t already done so.

Plot=10/10

Characters=10/10

Special Effects=10/10

Overall=10/10

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