The Korean Kill Bill?
A thriller is the type of movie where the protagonist is forced to do nasty things in order to get what he/she wants, and some characters tend to get brutally tortured in the process. I guess Old Boy can be catagorized as a thriller, and a good example is when Dae-su, the main character, pulls out a guy's teeth with a hammer. I was unfortunate enough to have watched this the night before getting my wisdom teeth removed (i admit it was scary at the time). I thought i'd have a nightmare during my surgery of a group of Korean men in suits suddenly walking in the room and hammering my teeth out... but anyways, on with the review...
From the opening scenes, it appears that the director has taken a page out of Quentin Tarantino's books. It starts off very randomly with a drunk Korean man in custody at the police station yapping random words, attempting to urinate in the corner of the room, and trying to fly with white wings on his back. *shrug* It was rather humourous but i'm sure either Eddie or Sen were thinking, "What kind of movie has James tricked me into watching?" (I still don't know what the wings symbolize. Any thoughts?) As the story builds however, it becomes interesting and we were glued to every second of it all the way through.
What I found most interesting about Old Boy were the bright settings thoughout most of the movie. With the exception of the beginning and end, most of the scenes take place on nice summer days and are accompanied by the mellow music by composers like Vivaldi. In fact, as soon as Dae-su escapes from being imprisoned for 15 years he finds himself lying in what appears to be a grass field (although we discover seconds later he is actually on the roof of a tall building accompanied by a suicidal creep!). Meanwhile, the plot is all about revenge and does have it's share of violence and sex - a big contrast from the bright settings, yet it works amazingly well!
The irony between the story and the settings does 2 things: 1) It makes the movie a peice of art rather than another a mindless action thriller, and 2) It contrasts the different sides of Dae-su as a character - the plot represents a monster that he has become from being imprisoned for 15 years, while the bright settings and mellow music hints that he is really just a drunk innocent lad hidden inside a monster.
Overall it's an interesting film that is worth seeing, as long as you can sit through a few gory scenes and you're not with kids. It's no wonder why it has become one of the few foreign films that have finally reached the big North American cinemas. Download it, rent it, buy it, or see it on the big screen like us.
Rating out of 10: 8
From the opening scenes, it appears that the director has taken a page out of Quentin Tarantino's books. It starts off very randomly with a drunk Korean man in custody at the police station yapping random words, attempting to urinate in the corner of the room, and trying to fly with white wings on his back. *shrug* It was rather humourous but i'm sure either Eddie or Sen were thinking, "What kind of movie has James tricked me into watching?" (I still don't know what the wings symbolize. Any thoughts?) As the story builds however, it becomes interesting and we were glued to every second of it all the way through.
What I found most interesting about Old Boy were the bright settings thoughout most of the movie. With the exception of the beginning and end, most of the scenes take place on nice summer days and are accompanied by the mellow music by composers like Vivaldi. In fact, as soon as Dae-su escapes from being imprisoned for 15 years he finds himself lying in what appears to be a grass field (although we discover seconds later he is actually on the roof of a tall building accompanied by a suicidal creep!). Meanwhile, the plot is all about revenge and does have it's share of violence and sex - a big contrast from the bright settings, yet it works amazingly well!
The irony between the story and the settings does 2 things: 1) It makes the movie a peice of art rather than another a mindless action thriller, and 2) It contrasts the different sides of Dae-su as a character - the plot represents a monster that he has become from being imprisoned for 15 years, while the bright settings and mellow music hints that he is really just a drunk innocent lad hidden inside a monster.
Overall it's an interesting film that is worth seeing, as long as you can sit through a few gory scenes and you're not with kids. It's no wonder why it has become one of the few foreign films that have finally reached the big North American cinemas. Download it, rent it, buy it, or see it on the big screen like us.
Rating out of 10: 8
Labels: James
posted by James | 4/25/2005 06:58:00 PM
|
0 comments
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home