I finally saw it. The revenge movie to end all revenge movies.
Oldboy has been on many top K-movie lists and is one of the most revered Korean movies internationally. There’s even talk about a Hollywood remake (oh please, don’t mess this one up), though it seems both Steven Spielberg and Will Smith stepped away from the project. I’ve waited a long time to watch this one, I’m not typically a gory movie fan. That being said, I love Gladiator and Patriot, two of the most gory war movies out there. They provided enough character depth, beautiful camera work, awesome music, etc. to make the gore support the movie instead of take the center stage. I felt like Oldboy was the same. I didn’t feel like the blood was overly done to the point where it detracted from the movie. Even more than blood and guts, I absolutely hate tasteless pornography and sex scenes thrown into movies. Surprisingly, the one sex scene in this movie is connected to the plot so much that to take away the scene would be to destroy the story.
The main character is locked away for 15 years for a reason unknown to himself. After randomly being let go, he tracks down his capture and unwinds the mystery. Once the big mystery is out there, it’s pretty easy to put all the pieces together and see what’s going on. It’s possibly my favorite revenge movie and, while I don’t believe it’ll be in my top 5, I highly recommend it.
A good movie indeed. It’s one of my favorites too although I could probably also find movies to keep it off my top 5. I love the soundtrack to this one though.
Also yeah they’ve had the remake rights to this film for YEARS, but every time they take a step forward they trip and fall and it’s back to the drawing board. I hope it stays that way. UNLESS Will Smith does it. It would be amazing to see him in the lead role and he’s the only one I’d want to see doing it. With him, plot wouldn’t matter as much, I think.
Kind of off-topic but there’s a Japanese film you may want to check out that fits in with your views on blood and gore. Look up Kitano Takeshi’s version of Zatoichi. He is one of the most respected entertainers in Japan and dislikes excessive violence, but he wanted to do Zatoichi. So he intentionally had the blood look fake, but also like flowers blooming across the screen or something like that. And it’s a good film in itself. The soundtrack is also unlike any I’ve heard before.