Old Boy (DVD) (US Version) DVD Region 1

Directed by Park Chan Wook, Old Boy has earned a reputation as the Korean version of the Hollywood hit Kill Bill. This action suspenser, however, brings you less blood with more violence. Awarded Best Actor at the Blue Dragon Awards, Choi Min Sik teams up with Yoo Ji Tae from Into the Mirror to give you the creeps in this contest of wits and courage.

Park Chan Wook won acclaim in the movie business by touching on controversial and even tabooed subjects. JSA (Joint Security Area) dealt with political struggle, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance highlighted the distortion of human identities, and Old Boy unveils the darkest side of human beings. The key theme of this movie, the dilemma between love and hatred, really keeps the audience guessing.

First and Foremost: Revenge
Oh Dae Soo (Choi Min Sik) is a married businessman with a lovely daughter. One night he creates a disturbance while drunk and gets arrested. After being bailed out, he is suddenly abducted. After that night Dae Soo is illegally imprisoned in a cell. Fifteen years later, he is suddenly released and he vows for revenge. It turns out that his imprisonment is just one part of Woo Jin's (Yoo Ju Tae) long-term retaliation. What gives Woo Jin the greatest pleasure is to see how Dae Soo is being tortured both when he is locked up or free. Now the two men desperate to eliminate each other meet, while the story becomes even more complex when a girl called Mido shows up.

In Old Boy, the two men love their women so much that losing them means the end of the world. They are actually victims of the same fate. Dae Soo pays his time living in hell and being savagely tortured. Fifteen years later he is granted freedom, but beset with a killer mindset. Woo Jin, on the other hand, swears revenge for his lost love by imposing the same living-death experience on Dae Soo.

Not as dazzling as The Bride's martial arts butchery in Kill Bill, Dae Soo's an-eye-for-an-eye desperation, however, leaves you trembling with fear. This role is so well played by Choi Min Sik that it definitely sets a milestone in his fruitful career. From an imprisoned lunatic, a killing machine after his release, to a toady stooping to compromise, Choi offers a perfect performance that leaves the audience in a world of blood and murders.

Besides Choi, the other leading man Yoo Ju Tae also gives an impressive performance. Yoo surprises the audience with his bitter secret that turns him from a dedicated lover to a cold-blooded wild animal, playing both the sweet lover and the scary murderer well.

From Lee Young Ae in Joint Security Area, Song Kang Ho in Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance to Yoo Ji Tae in Old Boy, Park has invested his characters torn between love and hatred with more and more depth and mysteries. The clear line between good and evil is further blurred, which gives his movies a series of climaxes. Park's dedication to his movies has been well paid back. In Korea, Old Boy won beautifully in a diamond-cut-diamond battle against Kill Bill. It also came out with flying colours in the 40th Baksang Arts Grand Awards Ceremony and later it was crowned with the Grand Prix at the 57th Cannes Film Festival. All eyes will definitely be on Old Boy again in June during Korea's 2004 Grand Bell Award.

Overall, Old Boy tells the story of choosing to live like a walking corpse with hatred and vengeance or to leave the truth, however cruel, behind and breathe in free air. Dae Soo, at the end of the movie, makes his final complaint" "I live worse than beasts. Where is my right to live like a human being?" It completely shows how heavy the burden of revenge is. Can you handle it?

Reviewed by Garden (Hong Kong)

Translated by Holly (Hong Kong)