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Oldboy
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Large Photo
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Starring: Min-sik Choi, Ji-tae Yu, Hye-jeong Kang, Dae-han Ji, Dal-su Oh
Director: Chan-wook Park
MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Tartan Video
Running Time: 120 minutes
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1
Amazon.com Sales Rank: 10790
Average Customer Rating: 
UPC: 842498030042
List price: $22.95
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Price Range: $16.89 - $20.66
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Product Description:
Oh Dae-su is an ordinary Seoul businessman with a wife and little daughter who, after a drunken night on the town, is abducted and locked up in a strange, private prison. No one will tell him why hes there and who his jailer is and his fury builds to a single-minded focus of revenge. 15 years later, he is unexpectedly freed, given a new suit, a cell-phone and 5 days to discover the mysterious enemy who had him imprisoned. Seeking vengeance on all those involved, he soon finds that his enemys tortures are just beginning.
From Amazon.com:
In the realm of revenge thrillers, you'd be hard pressed to find more ultra-violent vengeance and psycho thrills than in the creepy story of Oldboy. This Korean import made a pop splash at the Cannes Film Festival and during its limited theatrical run thanks to the imprimatur of Quentin Tarantino, who raved about it and its visionary director, Chan-wook Park, to anyone who would listen. It's easy to see why QT fell in love with the grindhouse attitude, fast-paced action, violent imagery, and icy-black humor, but it's a disservice to think of Oldboy as another Tarantino homage or knockoff. The darkly existential undercurrent in the themes that Oldboy traces over its life-long narrative arc is much more complex and deeply disturbing than anything of its kind. The movie's tagline is, "15 years of imprisonment... 5 days of vengeance." The imprisonee is Oh Dae-Su, an ordinary Joe who is snatched off a Seoul street corner and locked away in a dank, windowless fleabag hotel room for the aforementioned 15 years. Just as abruptly he is released, and thus the five days begin. Why did this happen to Oh Dae-Su? Ah, but that would be telling, and in fact we don't know ourselves until the final wrenching scenes. Oldboy breaks into a classic three-act saga, the first of which details the hallucinatory period of imprisonment in which Oh Dae-Su wades from mild insanity to outright psychosis in the hands of unseen yet attentive captors. Act 2 is the revenge, when an entirely different tone takes over and Oh Dae-Su moves with single-minded purpose and clarity. It's this section that has gained the most notoriety, primarily for the claw-hammer dentistry scene, the one-man-army tracking shot, and the wriggling octopus that Oh Dae-Su consumes in a sushi bar (he's been dead so long he simply needs life back inside him in any way possible). In act 3, answers finally start to emerge and the sinister atmosphere grows even more profound--not without a healthy dose of extra bloodletting, of course. Oldboy is an undeniably poetic masterpiece of tension, fury, and dynamic craft. Ultimately, its epic cycle of tragedy is of the sort that mankind has been inflicting upon itself for all time. Some of the images may be gruesome, but all converge into a kind of beauty. It's in the telling of this lurid tale that these details become one and the memories of pain ultimately heal. --Ted Fry
Psychedelic, Good, But Too Gory - 
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Oldboy DVD Review
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This movie pulls you in and keeps you guessing. It's basically a story of revenge wrapped in a mystery. The second half of the movie is quite edgy. There is graphic violence and a fairly gruesome scene where the main character cuts off his own tongue. That little detail doesn't give away anything in the main plot, but it should provide our gentle viewers with fair and sufficient warning. Take the R rating seriously. This movie is not for kids or teenagers. It's for mature adults who occasionally like to explore cinema's darker realm. The ending has a clever, but disturbing, twist. Some call it brilliant, perhaps with good reason. It's like a bloody version of an M. Night Shyamalan film. The purple surprise package ties up all the loose ends. You won't be perplexed. You'll know exactly what has happened and why. The English dubbing is well done. You don't need to read subtitles. By the way, ever watch a movie called Angels & Insects?
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Difficult & Disturbing -
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Oldboy DVD Review
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This is a difficult film to rate. On so many levels I was disgusted and disturbed by the extremity of some of the scenes. Many times I wondered, did they need to go that far? Personally, I do not want to see this again and would not recommend it to friends. However, I can't deny the brilliance of the plot. It's a movie about revenge and revenge it shows in the most gruesome way and definitely in an unforgettable way (although, I would like to forget some of the scenes). The filmmaker has chosen the most personal, psychotic motive possible and the most disturbing and haunting revenge ever seen on film. The mystery thriller element is also quite brilliantly done. The movie definitely will provoke you to the extreme. I can't bring myself to recommend it but I will say that on the theme of revenge there is no other film like it. And I doubt there ever will be one after it.
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The ending is just . . . . . WOW!! -
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Oldboy DVD Review
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I've read some of the negative reviews for this movie, and I will say that if you are sensitive to fairly graphic violence or what ends up being extermely intense and some would say horrific subject matter then this movie may not be your "cup of tea"
However it is mine and this movie is outstanding. I'm going to try to do this without spoilers. If I notice any I'll put some warnings in there. The story is about a man who is kidnapped on his daughter's 3rd birthday and is held captive for 15 years in what appears to be a small studio apartment. He is never permitted to leave this one room and his only connection with the outside world is a small telivision set. He is fed the same meal 3 times a day every day. One day he is drugged and unconscious and wakes up on the roof of a building. This is where he sets off to find out what happened to him and why.
It all builds and builds and builds to an intense confrontation at the end that has the most shocking, jaw dropping, can't believe what I was seeing/hearing twist endings I have ever seen. I literally gasped for breath covered my mouth and had to remind myself to both breath and blink again.
Yes throughout the plot there are some pretty silly scenarios like the main character surviving several injuries that in the real world would kill a person without prompt medical attention, or him beating back a whole hoard of armed gangsters with nothing more than a hammer (AWESOME SCENE THOUGH). The good far outweighs the slight missteps.
I would highly recommend this movie to anyone who is a fan of Quentin Tarantino or Robert Rodgiguez or any other violent revenge films. If you don't think you can stomach the violence or subject matter then by all means skip it. You're missing out though.
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Well written and acted - 
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Oldboy DVD Review
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Old Boy is one of the greatest foreign movies ever written and the acting is superb. Its the second of a 3-part triolgy based on vengence (sympathy for lady vengence & sympathy for mr vengence). Personally, I've never seen an American movie that can compare to the way Old Boy has been written, directed and acted. I've reccommended the movie to friends and always get a great reaction.
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Old Boy - Great Fun -
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Oldboy DVD Review
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This movie comes highly recommended. Not your average Hollywood style flick - with lots of action and a poor misguided hero with an unexpected plot twist at the end - loved it
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