Dae-su Oh: Even though I'm no more than a monster - don't I, too, have the right to live? "15 years of imprisonment, 5 days of vengeance."Oldboy is the second film in Chan-Wook Park's revenge trilogy and it is widely regarded as the best in the trilogy. Even if you don't like violent movie, which I do, there is no
denying just how well made Oldboy is. The film is put together magnificently well on every level. It looks great, it's well acted, the score is tremendous. There's nothing about it that isn't top notch. I really enjoyed the movie, but I don't feel like it is one of the best movies ever like many. Dae-su Oh is taken prisoner for 15 years. While locked up, he eats only one thing for 15 years and his only entertainment is a television. One day he wakes up freed and begins to seek revenge on the people responsible for his being prisoner for 15 years and also for the death of his wife, which everyone believes he did. The movie isn't your standard revenge film where something is done to a guy, so he seeks revenge and that's all there really is. This has much more depth than the standard revenge film has. The movie is violent and bloody, but not nearly as disgusting as I was led to believe. The violence isn't overdone, in my opinion. In fact, I kind of expected more. It's also not only done for pure shock value or to just gross out the audience. Everything works together to get the movie where Park wants to take it and maybe everyone doesn't enjoy watching what he's showing, but he's going to show it nonetheless.
October 4, 2011
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