Oldboy

2003 ‘올드보이’ Directed by Park Chan-wook

15 years of imprisonment, five days of vengeance

With no clue how he came to be imprisoned, drugged and tortured for 15 years, a desperate businessman seeks revenge on his captors.

Choi Min-sik Yoo Ji-tae Kang Hye-jung Kim Byung-ok Ji Dae-han Oh Dal-su Lee Seung-shin Yoon Jin-seo Oh Tae-kyung Yoo Yeon-seok Yoo Il-han Oh Gwang-rok Lee Dae-yeon Park Myung-shin Kim Su-hyun Yong-ih Seo Myeong-Seok Mun Seong-Bok

Alternative Titles

Vengeance Trilogy 2 - Oldboy, Oldŭboi, Oldeuboi, Old Boy, Олдбой, همکلاسی قدیمی

drama action mystery thriller

120 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Jay ★★★★★ 13

oh dae-su: licks lee woo-jins feet
tarantino: god i wish that were me
Review by Jay ★★★★★ 13

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

Reuniting With My Daughter After 15 Years GONE WRONG
Review by CinemaClown ★★★★★ 18

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

One of the most shocking & disturbing tales of revenge you are ever going to come across, Oldboy is a genre-defining classic that didn't just set a new benchmark for revenge-thrillers to follow, which as of today still remains unsurpassed, but still remains the finest film to come out from the South Korean film industry, and it is in every way director Park Chan-wook's best work to date.
Oldboy tells the story of Oh Dae-su, who is abducted on the night of his young daughter’s birthday & is held captive in an apartment prison for 15 years, without any clue of why he is there & who has imprisoned him, and is later freed in the same inexplicable manner. Rest of the film…
Review by Etienne Garde ★★★★★ 13

Perfection.
Review by former movie enjoyer ★★★★½

the lesson here is that you shouldn't gossip! if you see something, keep it to yourself
Review by Peaceful Stoner ★★★★★ 21

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

Why did Woo-jin imprison me for 15 years? This a wrong question. Why did Woo-jin imprison me with a tv in my room for 15 years and then release me? This is the right question.
This time around I saw Oldboy in a totally different ray of light and I could really grasp the underlying, satanically cruel scheme of sadism of why Oh Dae Su is provided with a television. That simple inanimate object is his only liaison with the world for 15 arduous years. The world is right in front of his eyes. He can see but now touch it. He can listen but not feel it. He can witness it but cannot live it. He is provided the…
Review by Lucy ★★★½ 24

well 😬
Review by demi adejuyigbe ★★★★½ 7

Loved this movie, but all the real joy of its plotting was stolen from me by college kids who found it off a list of "underrated mindfuck" movies in the '10s and delighted in detailing all the "most epic" parts to anyone who was willing to listen. And boy, was I!
Really funny to imagine an American producer watching Dae-su pop on screen and going "Ohhhhhh yeah. That's Josh Brolin."
Review by Adrian🍿 ★★★★½ 1

They could lock me up for 15 years and make me watch this everyday and i would be fine with it
Review by Darren Carver-Balsiger ★★★★★ 14

Hammer to the face. Before Parasite was the Korean film adored by the West, there was Oldboy. Nothing can prepare someone for their first viewing of Oldboy. For those who ever revisit it, they forget how darkly comic so much of it seemed at first. It's as if the memory is erased.
Oldboy is a nightmare. Not only because it is so deeply disturbing, but because its black void of evil is so insidious we relate to pain we cannot have gone through. When Oh Dae-su begs by the end, truly the most pathetic of sights, the nightmare is that you understand why. Oldboy has layers of revenge, vengeance pointed in opposite directions, but what's hard to pin is why.…
Review by Naughty aka Juli Norwood ★★★★★ 7

The tale is about two men, both of whom are seeking revenge! But whose revenge will be that much sweeter that of the tormented or that of the tormenter!
When it came to picking the film with the most surprising twist ever Oldboy won hands down! With The crying game coming in at the #2 spot!
Oldboy is known widely for the infamous octopus scene and for the glorious hammer fight scene in the hallway! But it has also earned a notorious reputation for having one of most twisted twists in cinematic history!
If you are a first timer to Chan-wook Park's Oldboy take my advice the less you know the better your viewing experience will be! Be sure to view the 2003 original not the inferior remake!
Min-sik Choi's performance was absolutely brilliant!
Naughty Approved!
Review by iana ★★★★ 2

umm the TWIST shyamalan found dead in miami

Recent reviews

Review by zaiaa ★★★★★

best revenge ever
Review by sheiluh ★★★★½

I need immediate therapy now
Review by Wade McCormick ★★★★½

I hadn't seen this since joining Letterboxd, so I was glad to be able to revisit it by introducing it to a couple of friends. It was an instant favorite the first time I saw it, and while it didn't have quite the same impact on me this time, it's still great. I have Choi and Yoo listed as my best actor and supporting actor for 2003, and I stand by those choices after this viewing. Oh Dae-su naturally goes through a wide range of emotions in this story, and Choi sells every single moment. Yoo is a perfect antagonist, cool and composed as he toys with Choi, but also showing moments of weakness. I also appreciated the ambiguity of the final scene, which I didn't really remember. I still hate the octopus scene, but otherwise I'd rank this just behind The Handmaiden, Park's best film.
Review by skyler ★★★★★

Yeah this was great. A new all time fav.
The camera work, the editing, writing, acting, ugh. Yeah.
The perfect amount of absurdity and violence and sex and beauty and yeah.
Review by Richi Wallace ★★★★★

Mi cuento de venganza favorito, uno enfermo, sádico, y 100% original, en donde Park Chan-wook con una maestría en su oficio brutal, concibe un thriller oscurísimo, donde su misterio se conjuga con momentos de acción, terror, drama y hasta comedia negra, lo cual la vuelve en uno de los manjares más exquisitos, gloriosos y retorcidos del séptimo arte. A destacar la actuación de Choi Min Sik, quien da uno de esos "tour de force" inolvidables que siempre se quedaran en la mente del espectador.
Review by Marina Grecco ★★★★

meudeus homem fofoqueiro é penalizado para vida toda entenda caso
Review by Kai ★★★★★

one of the most entertaining films i’ve watched such a rollercoaster of emotions. also what the fuck😳
Review by robbbiebaker ★★★★½

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

oedipus rex type beat
p gnarly had to watch an episode of seinfeld after that shit
Review by Federico Amante ★★★★½

Film magnifico, riorese eccezionali e una recitazione molto caratteristica. La trama domina la scena, colpi di scena (alcune cose inverosimili) fantastici, con un finale tutto da interpretare.
Film consigliato a tutti quelli che hanno uno stomaco abbastanza forte.
Review by Dani ★★★★★

“¿Buscas venganza o buscas la verdad?”
Review by mandamovie ★★★★½

Probably my highest 9 ever. This thing from start to end is a masterpiece. Best twist ever
Review by O_Migue ★★★★★

Enganado pola vinganza, oculta a súa verdadeira paixón, ser dentista.