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 Oh Dal-su Lee Seung-Shin Yoon Jin-seo Ji Dae-han Oh Tae-kyung Yoo Yeon-seok Oh Gwang-rok Lee Dae-yeon Park Myung-shin Kim Su-hyeon Yoo Il-han Lee Young-hee

Alternative Titles

Олдбой, 原罪犯, 老男孩, همکلاسی قدیمی, Oldeuboi, Oldŭboi, Old Boy, Vengeance Trilogy 2 - Oldboy

drama action mystery thriller

120 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Jay ★★★★★ 11

oh dae-su: licks lee woo-jins feet
tarantino: god i wish that were me
Review by Jay ★★★★★ 12

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

Reuniting With My Daughter After 15 Years GONE WRONG
Review by CinemaClown ★★★★★ 16

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 brat pitt ★★★½ 58

kill bill's sexist cousin
Review by Etienne Garde ★★★★★ 14

Perfection.
Review by Peaceful Stoner ★★★★★ 20

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 Naughty aka Juli Norwood ★★★★★ 9

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 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 ★★★★★ 6

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 Ash ★★★★ 12

📺 • 🔨 • ⚔️ • 🥢 • 🥟 • 🐙 • 🍣 • 🌃 • 🧠
{𝙾𝚑 𝙳𝚊𝚎-𝚂𝚞} 𝙻𝚊𝚞𝚐𝚑 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚕𝚍 𝚕𝚊𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚜 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚢𝚘𝚞. 𝚆𝚎𝚎𝚙 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚠𝚎𝚎𝚙 𝚊𝚕𝚘𝚗𝚎.
𝟙𝟝 𝕐𝔼𝔸ℝ𝕊 𝕆𝔽 𝕀𝕄ℙℝ𝕀𝕊𝕆ℕ𝕄𝔼ℕ𝕋, 𝟝 𝔻𝔸𝕐𝕊 𝕆𝔽 𝕍𝔼ℕ𝔾𝔼𝔸ℕℂ𝔼
𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐞. 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐣𝐚𝐦 𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐢𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐬. 𝐈 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐬𝐲 𝐬𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐬𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬, 𝐈’𝐦 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐲 𝐛𝐚𝐝 𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦, 𝐬𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐟𝐟 𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐝 - 𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐜𝐤, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐪𝐮𝐞. 𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞: 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐨𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐩𝐮𝐬 𝐬𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐠𝐫𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬. 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐑𝐨𝐠𝐮𝐥 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧.
Review by Lulu ★★★★½

the lesson here is that you shouldn't gossip! if you see something, keep it to yourself
Review by Simon Ramshaw ★★★★★ 12

You need the end credits of this film. It doesn't matter if it's in Korean, you just need it for the background; a lovely, quiet mountain range. It's a relaxing image, just the antidote for what you've just witnessed. Because Oldboy is DEVASTATING...
After a distressing opener where our main character is entrapped in a hotel room for fifteen years, his psychology is splattered all over the screen for the remainder of the film. Erratic behaviour is Oh Dae-Su's trademark; he eats live octupi, steals women's sunglasses and starts brawls with local neerdowells just to test out his supposed fighting skills.
And as for the villain (a semi-suicidal, simpering, giggling yuppie) he's harder to watch. Guarding a shameful past, you…

Recent reviews

Review by kangkrule ★★★½

A wild ride
Review by Alpha Movies ★★★★

84%🍿
Oldboy is an original and badass action film with horrific elements in it. Park Chan-wook is such a unique and exciting filmmaker! There really isn't anyone like him. He's a beast behind the camera and Oldboy is possibly his best work. The acting in this film is in my opinion by far the best aspect of it. The actors pour their souls into creating something special. The lead actor blew my mind almost every single time he was on my screen. The supporting cast is almost equally amazing. The characters are memorable, which is always a good sign. The action is perfect in every way. It's well choreographed and the camerawork compliments that. I'm mostly a fan of the…
Review by Gabriel Braun ★★★★

Oh Dae-su: How's life in a bigger prison, Dae-su?
Foucault has entered the chat
Review by SamarthSolanki ★★★★

Vengeance can drive someone into becoming a monster, who will go to lenghts incomprehensible to bring terror upon others or themselves. Oldboy is a poetic movie in many senses. Even with it's violence and mystery, the need for revenge and the portrayal of revenge as a force that drives a person is shown poetically.
the story of Oh Dae Su is tragic and heart breaking but at the same time we are never asked to feel sorry for him in his quest. It's like a divine force stops us from sympathising with his revenge, his cause. After all, no one is held captive for 15 years without some history. To find this "history" is what drives Oh. He was released…
Review by OnlyQusai ★★★★★

" اضحك والعالم سيضحك معك , ابكي وسوف تبكي وحيداً ."
واو .. 🤯
عظيم عظيم لابعد درجة ..كتابة عظيمة و اخراج و سرد احداث بشكل رائع يخليك متأكد و متيقن مين الظالم ومين المظلوم .. قلة قلة من الافلام اللي تعطيك مثل هذي المشاعر و التساؤلات .
ما ابغى اتفلسف و اكثر كلام .. الفيلم عظيم جداً ، متكامل .
10/10 👏🏼🖤
Review by Lam Nguyen ★★★★★ 1

This is a short PSA to remind yall nasty hoes to STOP FUCKING YOUR SISTERS!!
Anyways, Oldboy blew every expectations I had coming in. This movie isn't simply another revenge thriller; it is one that fully explores the human psyche and the dark depths of the cruelty each and everyone of us has. Definitely not a film for the weak-hearted.
Also, shoutout to @MaianaCastro as she will be paying for my therapy!
Review by kylemcanerney ★★★★

I just watched one or the most shocking disturbing and depraved films I’ve ever seen, and I couldn’t tear my eyes away. Not just because of the compulsively twisty and pilot story, but because of the drop dead gorgeous imagery. It’s got some of the most beautiful fight scenes I’ve ever seen, and there’s a seen where teeth are pulled out with the claw of a hammer, and I’m to wrapped up in the composition of the frame to recoil in disgust from its contents. God I need to watch more Korean movies.
Watched on dvd from library
Review by gus wadav ★★★★★ 1

Best
Review by Dento ★★★★★

Everything is so well done in this movie damn!
Review by Maiana Castro ★★★★★

There are revenge thrillers. Vengeance grips our protagonist with an iron fist. We root for them, cheer for them, and when the credits roll, we feel catharsis. Justice has been served. The world is at balance once more.
There are revenge thrillers... and then there is Oldboy.
Oldboy is an insidious film. It is a gaping black hole into the darkest parts of human sadism. It begins as a masterfully directed, written, and acted revenge thriller that completely descends into brutal, calculated chaos in its third act. One of the most evil and sick plot twists of all time. A hammer to the face.
I absolutely fucking loved it.
Review by Ian ★★★★★

I'm so fucking mad at myself that I slept on this for ages, this was everything I expected and more. Holy shit this is incredible
Review by BienenLeo ★★★★★

Love this