The question you need to ask yourself...
Gisli Jokull Gislason | Iceland | 10/06/2010
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This is a very good movie. Koreans have been making ambitious movies lately like Ta Guk Gi - Brotherhood and Natural City which are among the best from Asian Cinema. Oldboy is better than these and on par with movies like Resevoir Dogs.
It tells the story of a drunken man who is all of a sudden kidnapped for no reason he can imagine and is held captive for a very long time, on a Monte Cristo timescale. The movie is very brutal and full of dark humour. The begining scene where our hero is a drunken nuisance is the most believable and amusing drunk I have seen in a movie and I should know, since I am a police officer myself. Then there are scenes where he confronts a man who is about to commit suicide by jumping off a tall building and a brutal fight where he takes on a large group of criminals. All are well thought out and realistic. All of this goes on while the main plot unfolds, why was he held captive, for what reason and by who. And those aren't even the right questions. There are bigger surprises in store.
To fully appreciate the movie you will need a dark sense of humour and a desire for mystery. But should you fulfill this criteria - Oldboy will leave you mightly pleased."