| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Min-sik Choi | ... | Dae-su Oh | |
| Ji-tae Yu | ... | Woo-jin Lee | |
| Hye-jeong Kang | ... | Mi-do | |
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Dae-han Ji | ... | No Joo-hwan |
| Dal-su Oh | ... | Park Cheol-woong | |
| Byeong-ok Kim | ... | Mr. Han | |
| Seung-shin Lee | ... | Yoo Hyung-ja (as Seung-Shin Lee) | |
| Jin-seo Yoon | ... | Lee Soo-ah | |
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Dae-yeon Lee | ... | Beggar |
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Kwang-rok Oh | ... | Suicidal Man |
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Tae-kyung Oh | ... | Young Dae-su |
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Yeon-Seok Yoo | ... | Young Woo-jin (as Yeon-suk Ahn) |
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Il-han Oo | ... | Young Joo-hwan |
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Su-hyeon Kim | ||
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Seung-jin Lee | ||
Abducted on a rainy night in 1988, the obnoxious drunk, Oh Dae-Su, much to his surprise, wakes up locked in a windowless and dilapidated hotel room, for an unknown reason. There, his invisible and pitiless captors will feed him, clothe him and sedate him to avoid committing suicide, and as his only companion and a window to the world is the TV in his stark cell, the only thing that helps Oh Dae-Su keep going is his daily journal. But then, unexpectedly, after fifteen long years in captivity, the perplexed prisoner is deliberately released, encouraged to track down his tormentor to finally get his retribution. Nevertheless, who would hate Oh Dae-Su so much he would deny him of a quick and clean death? Written by Nick Riganas
Oldboy takes a hammer and "batters" its American equivalents, leaving them as pulped as a chewed up squid. Park Chan Wook displays what America misses with his ultra-stylish, ultra-violent thriller. Why watch Ben Affleck fail spectacularly to summon any displayable talent, when Min sik Choi serves up a memorable role as the disturbed, vengeful Dae Su Oh, in the second of the Vengeance trilogy. Park skillfully creates a compelling plot that will have you guessing through the entire film, up until the final shocking revelation. The Cinematography expertly done by Jeong-hun Jeong, who also worked on the follow up to this film, Chinjeolhan geumjassi. Everything about this film is done in style and panache and creates a memorable experience, and has many memorable scenes.
Many people accuse this film of being "unrealistic". These people forget that this a film, not a documentary. No one complains About Star Wars being unrealistic, and rightly so. Films have a right to stretch out reality, don't forget the reason it does this is to be entertaining.
Although the film has strong violence of a graphic nature, I advise you to watch it, if only to broaden your perspectives of world and Asian cinema.