Oh Dae Su (Choi Min-Sik) wakes up one day realising that he has been locked up by a group of gangsters. Bewildered, frustrated, angry and fearing about being locked up for life, Dae Su works towards his plan of escaping from prison. After a long fifteen years, and just when he is about to escape, he is released to his frustration. Losing his wife, and unsure about the whereabouts of his daughter, Dae-Su engages on his plans to find up who his tormentor is and to exact revenge on him.

Park Chan-Wook has built a reputation for strong films, Old Boy is no exception. Director Park previous work, Sympathy, bombed in the box office because of its intense, violent scenes which are hard to stomach. In directing Old Boy, Director Park has maintained his distinctive style, but this time he infuses the violent acts within a tight story plot. The result is a more accepted masterpiece, finishing fifth in the 2003 domestic box office. Old Boy just gets better as the story unfolds and credits to the director, it finishes with some intense moments leaving viewers altogehter dumbfounded.

Part of the success of the movie is its complex story structure that is seemingly hard to define and grasp initially. It is such unorthodoxy that challenged viewers leaving us with not much sure ground to stand on. It is thus exhilarating watching the movie unwinds. Park continue to redefine and refine the genre with excellent cinematography that made Old Boy such a polished work, even a simple flashback scene is filmed with much invention. Old Boy is a myriad of disparate elements that combine well to give the movie a distinctive edge. The sounds, words and actions all combine to give the movie a poetic madness giving the movie a unique style.

Drawing inspiration from a Japanese comic and with his touch of ingenuity Park has transformed the original piece. In every aspect Old Boy is magnificent, almost flawless, the cinematography, sound themes, choices of actors/actress are excellent, every scene in the movie is important and it all pieces together almost seamlessly. However, what is truly great about Old Boy is the ultimate cinematic experience that it offers to viewers, many will at the end of two hours be in awe of its power. It is the sheer visual as well as emotional intensity that Old Boy processes that distinguishes itself, few movies can claim to ascends the same height as Old Boy.

In Old Boy, all the co-stars excel with mesmerizing performances that accounts for much of the movie successes. Choi Min Sik has never failed to captivate audience in his previous works; in Old Boy he demonstrates the whole emotional ranges of Dae Su - from the grumpy, complaining businessman, to the frustrated prisoner, the avenger and to the broken man, Choi portrayal of the dramatic changes that Dae-Su undergoes is real and poigant. The pathetic image of Dae-Su kneeling and barking like a dog begging for forgival, the sheer wrtetchedness of the situation will remain deeply etched in viewers for a while. Yoo Ji-Tae is overshadowed by Choi Min-Sik in the movie but his performance is nonetheless, excellent. Woo Jin’s arrogance is but a disguise for his wounded soul and Ji-Tae portrayed such ambivalence of the character perfectly, Kang Hye-Jeong has an excellent performance in the movie alongside her talented male casts.

Old Boy is an artistic achievement, a truly great movie that Korean cinema will certainly be proud to claim its own.