However, when Dae-Su meets the mastermind, Woo-jin Lee (Ji-tae Yu), behind his imprisonment, he is tested and given a ticking clock.  If Dae-Su figures out the reason for his imprisonment within five days, his captor will commit suicide.  If Dae-Su doesn’t figure it out, his captor will kill every woman that Dae-Su ever loved—including Mi-do. 

It is no surprise that Quentin Tarantino campaigned for Oldboy to win the top prize at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival; Oldboy is right up his alley.  Director Chan-wook Park makes his Tarantino-like presence felt with a side-scrolling fight scene (comparable to Contra) – that is shot in one continuous take – and an inventive presentation of its conclusion panning back and forth from executing in real-time to seeing Dae-Su prepare to leave.

In fact, Park’s vicious neo noir/martial arts style almost speaks louder than its substance.  With scenes that involve a squid and the human digestive system, a hammer and human teeth, and a pair of scissors and a human tongue, Park makes it hard for viewers to stomach and simultaneously turn away.   Likewise, Park’s perverse nature increases the shock-value and the need to shower after the credits.

“Be it a grain of sand or rock, in water, they both sink.” Oldboy does not sink; instead, it rises to the top while taking on little water.  While “buoyant” is an inapplicable adjective to describe Oldboy, the picture is gripping, gruesome, and daunting.  What’s more, it is memorable, comical, and valiant.  Finally, amidst the slew of hyphenated first names (i.e. Dae-Su, Joo-hwan, Mi-do, Woo-jin, and Su-ah), Oldboy is Su-perb.

Post Script:  Check out the other two parts of Chan-wook Park’s vengeance trilogy, Part I: Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and Part III: (Sympathy for) Lady Vengeance; Oldboy fits in the middle as the second installment.