Oldboy

I'm going to start this review by including one of the songs from this incredible movie. I feel this song is a manifestation of the movie itself. It's hauntingly beautiful which is exactly what Chan-wook Park was going for in this movie. The Last Waltz

Oldboy focuses on Oh Dae-Su, a drunkard who is introduced at a police station for being too drunk on his daughter's birthday. Immediately after he is released from the station, he is kidnapped and spends the next fifteen years imprisoned with absolutely no reason given. Once he is free, he spends the rest of the movie trying to find out the truth of why he was imprisoned and the identity of his captor.

It's hard to go into too much more detail about the story of this movie because it just begs to be watched. You shouldn't know the story's progression before actually seeing it so I'm not going to do that. You can expect a very dark movie with so many different elements moving at once to make it incredible. It has humor, action (there's a good chance you've seen its well-known fight scene already), drama by the truckload, and an immensely deep, excellently constructed plot. I will point out that the landmark fight scene was done in one take, which is astonishing when you watch it; it just flows so well.

This movie is not for everyone however. The subject matter is very unsettling, especially once the plot starts to unfold. Though this movie can be watched as a background movie, it's really doing a dishonor to it to watch it that way. Take the time to sit down and watch it from the first scene until the very end, it will reward you for it.

Any movie buff should have already seen this by now, but for anyone who is looking for something a little different that will leave you in awe throughout and afterwards, look no further. This one is a classic.

Grade: A

Not sure what I was thinking, grading this movie is easy.

Grade: A+