Action thriller

Oldboy (2005): Cast, Ratings & Plot

Name: Oldboy
Genre: Action, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Released: 2005-03-25
Duration: 2 h
Cast: Min-sik Choi, Ji-tae Yu, Hye-jeong Kang

Oldboy is a 2005 action thriller directed by Chan-wook Park, starring Min-sik Choi, Ji-tae Yu and Hye-jeong Kang. It runs 2 hours. It earned 1 award nomination, including Best Foreign Language Film at the Critics' Choice 2006. Critics gave it 39% on Rotten Tomatoes and 78 on Metacritic.

Rotten Tomatoes: 39%
award nomination: 1
Metascore: 78

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Watch the trailer Read the plot summary

Released: March 25, 2005
Runtime: 2h (120 min)
Director: Chan-wook Park
Genres: Action , Drama , Mystery , Thriller
Original language: English
Studio: Tartan
After the credits: No No extra scene

The story

What Is Oldboy About?

The premise of Oldboy without spoilers. The whole story is in the plot summary further down.

Oh Dae-su, a successful businessman, is abruptly kidnapped and held captive for fifteen years without explanation. Upon his sudden release, he finds his life irrevocably changed and is driven by a fierce desire to uncover the reason for his imprisonment and to seek retribution. His dangerous pursuit of the truth leads him down a twisting path filled with unexpected revelations and shocking encounters.

Oldboy Themes & Keywords

· 50 tags

revenge
psychological torture
captive
neo noir
hypnosis
female nudity
secret
older man younger woman relationship
voice over narration
surprise ending
female frontal nudity
self mutilation

+38 more

memory
violence
penthouse
octopus
claw hammer
photo album
tongue cut out
haunted by the past
severed tongue
kidnapping
mysterious villain
torture
title spoken by character
love
brother sister relationship
father daughter relationship
incest
father daughter incest
brother sister incest
captivity
stabbed in the back
one against many
sex scene
ambiguous ending
male rear nudity
vengeance
brutality
suicide by shooting oneself in the head
suicide by jumping from a rooftop
voyeur
psychopath
friend
vomiting
blood splatter
fistfight
guilt
pleading
gas mask

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Cast & crew

Oldboy Cast

Min-sik Choi leads the cast, with Ji-tae Yu and Hye-jeong Kang. Directed by Chan-wook Park.

Director Chan-wook Park

From the director

More from Chan-wook Park

More films directed by Chan-wook Park, best-rated first: The Handmaiden, Decision to Leave, Lady Vengeance and Thirst.

Full filmography

Ratings

Oldboy Reviews & Ratings

Critics gave Oldboy 39% on Rotten Tomatoes and 78 on Metacritic.

Rotten Tomatoes

39% Tomatometer

Popcornmeter 37%
See on Rotten Tomatoes
Metacritic

78 Metascore

User score 8.6
See on Metacritic

Plot

Oldboy Plot Summary

What happens in Oldboy from start to finish, spoilers included, with a timeline of 15 key events. The opening is below; the full summary is a 3-minute read.

Spoilers ahead

The film opens with a gripping scene where Oh Dae-su (portrayed by Min-sik Choi) is holding another man suspended by a necktie over the edge of a building, insisting that the man must listen to his tale. The story then takes a compelling turn, transporting us back to 1988, where Dae-su lives a seemingly typical life as a businessman, accompanied by his wife, Kim Ja-Hyun (played by an unidentified actress), and his beloved daughter, Yeun-Hee.

Full summary

The whole story of Oldboy, scene by scene

Read the full summary