Oldboy Review

[aygie]

Hi guys never done this and thought i'd give it a shot. Let me know what you think.


OLDBOY

The Movie

Oldboy is the second part of Chan-Wook Park's Vengeance Trilogy, beginning with Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and ending with Lady Vengeance. Upon it's release it received numerous awards including the Cannes film festivals Grand Prize of the Jury and rightfully so.

Oldboy is story based around Madness, Revenge and ultimately redemption. Our main character Oh-Daesu (one day at a time) is, as far as we can tell, a lay-about, argumentative and generally ignorant human being. His life is thrust into to disarray as he is kidnapped and placed into a locked room for fifteen years for no apparent reason and then released with no explanation.

This is one of the films strongest points, a strange and intriguing story line which manages to grasp the viewers interest without giving too much away and maintaining its inquisitive nature throughout. I won't go too much into the story-line because there is a chance i will give away key spoilers which would ruin the experience.

I can however talk about the acting, and there is a lot to talk about. For me, personally, Min-sik Choi's (Oh-Daesu) performance in Oldboy is second to none. A gripping a realistic portrayal of a man pushed to the edges of his body, mind and conscience. We first see him as a regular man, drunk and under arrest and then dramatically transform into a well oiled, insane, lovable psychotic. As the viewer you share his pain, sympathize with his anger and are disgusted with his violence (see final scene). However Choi's performance isn't the only which shines, in fact all the major performances in the film stand out entertain throughly. Our main villain is superbly ignorant, obsessive and confident in equal parts, whereas our heroine shows care and positiveness in a realistic and natural manor. Anyway don't want to rabble on too much as this is only a mimi review! But for the film it gets a

4/5

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Video

I was really looking forward to the Blu release of Oldboy, as you've guessed i love the film but the original transfer was quite poor, being very soft and colours often blending into one another unevenly. This is Tartans first blu release and it is a very good effort. Skin tones are well balanced and colours are quite dynamic (green is prominent mood set through the film).

There are some problems though, the high def worlds favorite argument - Grain. The mosquito effect is apparent only in the darkest scenes but it is still enough to notice. However it is only slight and does not distract from the main substance and in many scenes actually enhance the mood of the story. Also there is a slight shake with whole frame. Viewers will notice this at the begining with the titles. i thought this might disappear once the film kicked in but i didn't. Again it sounds worse than it is, its there but you have to look for it to be annoyed by it. Saying this though, the picture is sharp with plenty of close ups and faces to be wowed with the amount of detail. I'm not to hot on the whole bitrate thing but it ranges from 30-40mbps. I give it a

3.75/5

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Sound

Awesome. Awesome, awesome, awesome! Tartan have included a DTS HD MA 7.1 (WHICH I'M DYING TO HEAR!) and a Dolby Digital EX 5.1. The 5.1 is spectacular with amazing range throughout. The films musical tone changes every five minutes, going from soothing violins to thumping bass drums to intense synths and back again. The DD rips along your speakers with pace and intensity which impresses enormously even with smallest sounds. I found myself pausing the film a few times to see what that noise was coming from behind me! A truly great sound expreinace which will be even more amazing when us Blu Ray owners finally get DTS HD MA.

5/5

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Overall

I love this film, really love it. Why? Because the story is great, the acting superb and is one of the most original films in the past 5 years. A lot of people will be put off by subtitles and what not, but give them Oldboy and they'll embrace Foreign cinema from here on out. Ok the picture has some minor faults but the audio is reference and from the look of things Tartan is going to deliver some great Blu experiences in the future. Oldboy is definitely a great start.

4/5


Aygie