- Overview
With no clue how he came to be imprisoned, drugged and tortured for 15 years, a desperate man seeks revenge on his captors.
- Release Date
21 November 2003
- DirectingLee Kae-byeok
- Budget
$3,000,000.00
- Revenue
$17,500,000.00
- Stars
Videos
User Reviews
See moreEky
23 June 2021
I’m sure that all of you can always spot a film with good acting, superb plot and great cinematography easily but when it comes to a thriller that possesses all those above quality, it would be such a rarity. OldBoy here, second installment from The Vengeance Trilogy directed by Park Chan-wook (Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, OldBoy, Sympathy for Lady Vengeance) really have them all, good story, powerful acting and the most horrifying and clever end twist if not genius. In fact no matter how many times you see this, the twist would still be awesome. The theme of revenge here is taken to the next level, to its supremacy for it’s really carefully-planned. OldBoy has a mind-bending assortment of drama, thriller, romance and beautifully spiced up with sadistic plot, shocking elements, ultra violence and clever psychological twist. Imagine yourself captured, locked in a room for 15 years, not knowing why and who did it and when you finally escaped and thought it’s all over, you were wrong and here’s the punching line, the direct punch to your stomach. Min-sik Choi as Oh Dae su really acted well, he really got us carried away by dragging us into the mystery that surrounds his life, into the depression he’s been feeling and into the deep well of his curiosity. Once again, OldBoy is a way too remarkable, when “revenge” isn’t merely knife-chopping or gun-battling. Enough said.
manwhonose
23 June 2021
This is definitely one of the films to see before you die. It's seat-squirmingly unsettling, shocking and very violent. It's a journey into a truly disturbed mind; a mind, which - like yours will be - is unable to cope with what it discovers. This film is brilliantly twisted. It has a thread of the most wonderful, blackest humour running through it, a sense of complete disorientation and enough plot twists and turns to sustain your interest. Not one of the best revenge thrillers I've seen - simply THE best!
Niemand
21 August 2023
Just about everyone I’d spoken to about this film recommended it to me. I watched this film with the original Korean-language soundtrack, with English subtitles. Oh Dae-su (Chi Min-sik) is a bit of a flirt (whether he is a womaniser is not made clear) with a wife and young child, who has turned two years old on the day we start the film. Dae-su is in a prison waiting room having insulted a woman he was flirting with. A friend comes and eventually gets him out, but while he’s making a call to his wife to explain he will be home soon, he is kidnapped. Incarcerated in a small room, with only a TV for company, he is fed and looked after, but not allowed his freedom. He unsuccessfully attempts suicide several times. He keeps himself fit by doing exercise programmes he sees on TV and he starts to dig his way out with chopsticks. He sees a TV report that shows he’s been framed for the murder of his wife. Fifteen years later, without a word of explanation, he is released. The rest of the film follows his attempts to find out why he was imprisoned, who did it, and where his daughter is. The film is frenetic, highly charged, and very emotional on several levels. It is also bloody in places, but Dae-su’s obsession for seeking revenge on whomsoever imprisoned him and on finding out where his daughter is drives this film along. There are psychological aspects to the film as well, and the film does eventually resolve itself – it is not one of those open-ended “I wonder who did it” type films. Follow the film through and you will get all the answers. I would recommend it, but I wouldn’t call it light entertainment.
More Like This
The Square
A prestigious Stockholm museum's chief art curator finds himself in times of both professional and personal crisis as he attempts to set up a...
See moreFrombluetored
Fran has a picture and a goal: to beat up the boy who appears in it.
See moreA Few Good Men
When cocky military lawyer Lt. Daniel Kaffee and his co-counsel, Lt. Cmdr. JoAnne Galloway, are assigned to a murder case, they uncover a hazing...
See moreAndrei Rublev
An expansive Russian drama, this film focuses on the life of revered religious icon painter Andrei Rublev. Drifting from place to place in a...
See moreCool Hand Luke
When petty criminal Luke Jackson is sentenced to two years in a Florida prison farm, he doesn't play by the rules of either the sadistic warden or...
See moreDoctor Zhivago
The life of a Russian physician and poet who, although married to another, falls in love with a political activist's wife and experiences hardship...
See moreMother India
A poverty-stricken woman raises her sons through many trials and tribulations. But no matter the struggles, always sticks to her own moral code.
See moreCinderella Man
The true story of boxer Jim Braddock who, following his retirement in the 1930s, makes a surprise comeback in order to lift his family out of poverty.
See moreDawn of the Dead
A group of survivors take refuge in a shopping mall after the world is taken over by aggressive, flesh-eating zombies.
See moreThe Murderers Are Among Us
After returning from a concentration camp, Susanne finds an ex-soldier living in her apartment. Together the two try to move past their experiences...
See moreHeat
Obsessive master thief Neil McCauley leads a top-notch crew on various daring heists throughout Los Angeles while determined detective Vincent...
See moreMission: Impossible
When Ethan Hunt, the leader of a crack espionage team whose perilous operation has gone awry with no explanation, discovers that a mole has...
See moreAstarte
Through a journey into love, myth, the present and the past, Argiro seeks the missing pieces, in her effort to decode the Phaistos Disc.
See moreMission: Impossible III
Retired from active duty, and training recruits for the Impossible Mission Force, agent Ethan Hunt faces the toughest foe of his career: Owen...
See moreSpartacus
The rebellious Thracian Spartacus, born and raised a slave, is sold to Gladiator trainer Batiatus. After weeks of being trained to kill for the...
See morePaths of Glory
A commanding officer defends three scapegoats on trial for a failed offensive that occurred within the French Army in 1916.
See moreIrreversible
A woman’s lover and her ex-boyfriend take justice into their own hands after she becomes the victim of a rapist. Because some acts can’t be undone....
See moreDirty Harry
When a madman dubbed 'Scorpio' terrorizes San Francisco, hard-nosed cop, Harry Callahan – famous for his take-no-prisoners approach to law...
See moreInvalid
Grumpy handyman Laco loses everything to a group of mobsters. Now wheelchair-bound and with his life spiraling, it's his new friend Gabo, a local...
See moreXtreme
Two years after the murder of his son and father, a retired hitman sets in motion a carefully crafted revenge plan against the killer: his own...
See more