Oldboy: Difference between revisions

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
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A South Korean movie very loosely based on a Japanese manga of the same name, and is the second and most well-known installment of [[Park Chan Wook|Park Chan-wook's]] Vengeance Trilogy, which begins with ''[[Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance|Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance]]'' and ends with ''[[Sympathy for Lady Vengeance]]''. The film also has several parallels to ''[[The Count of Monte Cristo]]'', as well as [[Shout-Out|Shout Outs]] to ''[[Titus Andronicus (Theatre)|Titus Andronicus]]''.
A South Korean movie very loosely based on a Japanese manga of the same name, and is the second and most well-known installment of [[Park Chan-wook|Park Chan-wook's]] Vengeance Trilogy, which begins with ''[[Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance]]'' and ends with ''[[Sympathy for Lady Vengeance]]''. The film also has several parallels to ''[[The Count of Monte Cristo]]'', as well as [[Shout-Out|Shout Outs]] to ''[[Titus Andronicus (theatre)|Titus Andronicus]]''.


Oh Dae-su is an alcoholic businessman with a wife and daughter who is released by the police after a night of drunken misconduct, and then is abruptly kidnapped without a trace. Locked inside a hotel room, completely cut off from the outside world except for a TV, and drugged with knock-out gas every so often, he eventually learns that during his disappearance his wife has been killed, and he has been framed as the murderer. Enraged by his predicament, he finds ways to pass the time, writing his memoirs, [[Took a Level In Badass|training his fists]] and slowly inching towards his eventual escape.
Oh Dae-su is an alcoholic businessman with a wife and daughter who is released by the police after a night of drunken misconduct, and then is abruptly kidnapped without a trace. Locked inside a hotel room, completely cut off from the outside world except for a TV, and drugged with knock-out gas every so often, he eventually learns that during his disappearance his wife has been killed, and he has been framed as the murderer. Enraged by his predicament, he finds ways to pass the time, writing his memoirs, [[Took a Level In Badass|training his fists]] and slowly inching towards his eventual escape.
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* [[Enigmatic Minion]]: Mr. Han, Woo-Jin's silent bodyguard. {{spoiler|He gets one line in the whole movie and almost kills Dae-Su before getting shot in the head by his employer.}}
* [[Enigmatic Minion]]: Mr. Han, Woo-Jin's silent bodyguard. {{spoiler|He gets one line in the whole movie and almost kills Dae-Su before getting shot in the head by his employer.}}
* [[Even Evil Has Standards]]: {{spoiler|Woo-jin tells the prison warden not to let Mido know of the incest.}}
* [[Even Evil Has Standards]]: {{spoiler|Woo-jin tells the prison warden not to let Mido know of the incest.}}
* [[Everything's Squishier With Cephalopods]]: The live octopus-eating scene.
* [[Everything's Squishier with Cephalopods]]: The live octopus-eating scene.
* [[Eye Scream]]: Oh Dae-su stabs one of Woo-jin's henchmen in the eye with a broken toothbrush. We don't see anything gory, though.
* [[Eye Scream]]: Oh Dae-su stabs one of Woo-jin's henchmen in the eye with a broken toothbrush. We don't see anything gory, though.
* [[Face Death With Dignity]]: {{spoiler|Woo-jin}} takes a hot shower and puts on his best suit before shooting himself.
* [[Face Death with Dignity]]: {{spoiler|Woo-jin}} takes a hot shower and puts on his best suit before shooting himself.
* [[Fan Disservice]]: {{spoiler|The first time audiences see the sex scene between Dae-Su and Mido, it's probably tantalizing. Once they're hit with the revelation of Mido being his daughter, the scene is much less appealing in retrospect or upon repeated viewings.}}
* [[Fan Disservice]]: {{spoiler|The first time audiences see the sex scene between Dae-Su and Mido, it's probably tantalizing. Once they're hit with the revelation of Mido being his daughter, the scene is much less appealing in retrospect or upon repeated viewings.}}
* [[555]]: Averted, as the address - both the street number and PO box - to Dae-su's daughter's foster parents in reality belongs to [http://www.firsthotels.com/en/Our-hotels/Sweden/Stockholm/First-Hotel-Amaranten/ a hotel in Stockholm].
* [[555]]: Averted, as the address - both the street number and PO box - to Dae-su's daughter's foster parents in reality belongs to [http://www.firsthotels.com/en/Our-hotels/Sweden/Stockholm/First-Hotel-Amaranten/ a hotel in Stockholm].
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* [[Psychological Horror]]
* [[Psychological Horror]]
* [[Punch a Wall]]: A large part of Oh Dae-su's self-training.
* [[Punch a Wall]]: A large part of Oh Dae-su's self-training.
* [[Shout-Out]]: To ''[[Titus Andronicus (Theatre)|Titus Andronicus]]'' including the scene {{spoiler|with the tongue, and the father-daughter incest}}.
* [[Shout-Out]]: To ''[[Titus Andronicus (theatre)|Titus Andronicus]]'' including the scene {{spoiler|with the tongue, and the father-daughter incest}}.
* [[Soundtrack Dissonance]]: Vivaldi's ''Winter'' plays while Oh Dae-su rips Mr Park's teeth out.
* [[Soundtrack Dissonance]]: Vivaldi's ''Winter'' plays while Oh Dae-su rips Mr Park's teeth out.
* {{spoiler|[[Surprise Incest]]}}
* {{spoiler|[[Surprise Incest]]}}

Revision as of 14:53, 9 April 2014

 Laugh and the world laughs with you. Weep and you weep alone.


A South Korean movie very loosely based on a Japanese manga of the same name, and is the second and most well-known installment of Park Chan-wook's Vengeance Trilogy, which begins with Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and ends with Sympathy for Lady Vengeance. The film also has several parallels to The Count of Monte Cristo, as well as Shout Outs to Titus Andronicus.

Oh Dae-su is an alcoholic businessman with a wife and daughter who is released by the police after a night of drunken misconduct, and then is abruptly kidnapped without a trace. Locked inside a hotel room, completely cut off from the outside world except for a TV, and drugged with knock-out gas every so often, he eventually learns that during his disappearance his wife has been killed, and he has been framed as the murderer. Enraged by his predicament, he finds ways to pass the time, writing his memoirs, training his fists and slowly inching towards his eventual escape.

But just days before his long-awaited breakout fifteen years later, he is just as mysteriously released, with nice clothes, money, a cell phone, a severely weakened psyche, a fugitive status and a million unanswered questions. With the help of a female Japanese chef named Mido and one of his old computer-geek friends, he tries to piece together the scattered clues of who took his life away from him, cutting down anyone who gets in his path.

An English-language remake has been in development for some time, and Spike Lee has been chosen to direct with Josh Brolin in the lead role.

Since this is a movie that has some mayor twists and surprises, watch out for spoilers.


The film contains examples of:

  Lee Woo-Jin: "You weren't drugged. You just forgot. It wasn't important to you."