Strangely enough, I decided to kick off this blog with my thoughts on a movie released a few years back. The movie in question is the Korean film Oldboy. Even though the film was released in 2005 to rave reviews, I have just gotten around to seeing it now. The fact that I wanted to write this post immediately after seeing it should indicate some of how I feel about the film, and it definately is not a desire to write a hate rant.
Chan-wook Park creates one of the most brutally beautiful thrillers that I have ever seen. It is one of those movies which makes you feel completely beat up by the end of the film...and ready to go a second round with it. It is rare to see a movie that has been confusing for the first 2/3rds of the film wrap up with an incredible ending that completely explains everything to the audience without being trite or as confusing as the rest of the movie. The finalé is an incredible end to a powerhouse of a film.
The film is as intense as movies come. It is definately not for the squeamish, however if you watch it you will gain a new appreciation for the many uses of the common household hammer. If you are tired of simple and trite thrillers, Oldboy is just the revitalizing film you need to see.
Observations:
~The score in this film is absolutely incredible, be sure to pay attention.
~If you didn't get it at the start of this post Oldboy is a Korean film, so if you don't like subtitles...deal with it. Don't watch the English dub, the original Korean track is the only way to go.
~The hallway fight scene is shot in one continuous take, and is one of the better fight scenes in recent memory.
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