THIS is why I love Netflix. I never could find movies like this in Blockbuster or what have you. I was wrapped up in this movie from start to finish.
I don’t even know what to say other than how much I liked it. As Ebert said, it’s not about the violence, but about the depths of the human heart it lays bare. When a movie even makes you feel bad for a depraved psycho, that’s something.
This isn’t a movie for the light-hearted, so I won’t recommend it to just anyone. It is excellent catharsis, so if you like that sort of thing, I highly recommend.
Beware! An octopus dies in this movie. If you’re like me and know how intelligent the little guys are, it will bother you - but you can just wince during that scene and it never comes up again.
The biggest shocker/disappointment/hard-to-deal-with thing has to be how the villain has had COMPLETE control over everything that happens to Oh Dae-Su for 15 years. I found that to be about the most depressing, sickening ending to a movie that I’ve ever seen.
I rented Oldboy, ironically enough, from Blockbuster some time ago and I liked it pretty well. The octopus scene is what sticks out the most for me. That’s the scene I tell everybody about from the movie. The fight scene was really well done, too. Best ever? Maybe…but They Live give it a run for its money.
Watching that movie was like, a traumatic experience for me. I agree it was extremely well done. But I found it extremely disturbing and it has led me to avoid movies in that genre. The utter despair of the father is painful to remember.
Ana, I love that you’re like, ‘‘Incest, sure… teeth removed with pliers? Why not! Ooooh noooo not the octopussss!’’ Although I have to admit that bothered me too. I love me some cephalopods.
If you enjoyed it you should check out Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, both by the same director as Oldboy (actually the three together are an informal trilogy due to their thematic similarity).
Two things: Octopus suffering was real, whereas the rest was just fiction. Octopi play
And the other is, I value a movie that gives catharsis. I watch weepy Bollywood movies just for this purpose. It was absolutely traumatic, but that’s why we watch these things, to be reminded that OUR lives are not that bad, and to bleed and grieve for someone else.
I kept expecting him to succeed. I really did. Boy, what a downer - but it seemed natural at that point, though I did roll my eyes at the hypnosis.
Eh? I never finished my sentence! I was going to say, Octopi play with Mr. Potato Heads, they work hard to extinguish lights they don’t like, they can solve puzzles. They’re very smart!
You guys know a remake is in the works, right? Or at least another Oldboy based upon the manga instead of the previous movie. I guess this means no octopus or incest, and I am shocked that the Japanese version does not have tentacles! There was already a very unauthorized Indian “remake” (Zinda), but I’m not surprised that exists.
Spike Lee directs maybe, maybe the main is Josh Brolin, bad guy is Sharlto Copley, but you know how these things change.
I could not get into Mr. Vengeance, Oldboy was better IMHO. Have not seen Lady Vengeance yet.
An octopus dies every time someone pluralizes as “octopi.”
As to the remake, I’ve got no interest in seeing it. I will watch the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo remake only because I am hoping to see Daniel Craig naked or half naked in it, but I’m not that interested in Josh Brolin.
See, it works best if you get an actor who can look like he aged 10-15 years, and did so under poor conditions. Brolin might be good at pulling off the post-imprisonment, but he’s a little too craggy to play the callow, pre-imprisonment hero. He’d still be better than Mickey Rourke in that respect.
