Movie #97 – Oldboy (2003) - 120 min, cert 18.
A Korean businessman, Oh Dae-Su, is on his way home to see his young daughter on her birthday, but goes out on the town and gets very drunk. He is arrested and a friend comes to bail him out. While his friend is on the phone, Oh disappears. When he comes round he is locked in what appears to be a cheap hotel room. He is fed through a small hole in the door, and every so often gas is pumped in to the room to knock him out. When he wakes up, the room has been cleaned, and his hair has been cut. He is given no explanation as to why this is happening, but there he remains for 15 years. After he is released he goes in search of answers.
I went into it with no expectations, but it turned out to be pretty good. It was quite violent in places – the scene where Oh tortures his jailer by extracting his teeth with a claw hammer I found hard to watch, and I consider myself to have a pretty strong stomach. The plot developed well, and the reveal at the end was a good twist, although I didn’t really understand the whole tongue thing.
Score – 9/10. If you’re not too easily shocked, it’s well worth a watch.
Next up is Clint Eastwood in Gran Torino. I’ve not seen it before, but I’m a bit of a Clint fan so I’m looking forward to it.
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