Oldboy

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Plot

Oh Dae-su (Choi Min-Sik) is an ordinary Seoul businessman with a wife and little daughter who, after a drunken night on the town, is locked up in a strange, private “prison” for 15 years. No one will tell him why he is there and whom his jailer is, but he is kept in reasonably comfortable quarters and has a TV to keep him company. While watching TV, he discovers that he has been framed for his wife’s murder and realizes that, during one of the occasions in which he was knocked out with gas, someone has drawn blood from him and left it at the scene of the crime. The imprisonment lasts for fifteen years until Dae-Su finds himself unexpectedly deposited on a grass-covered high-rise rooftop.

Oh Dae-Su is determined to discover who his mysterious enemy is. He gets his first clue when a homeless man hands him a cell phone and a wallet full of cash. Later, while Dae-su is eating in a Japanese restaurant, the phone rings and a voice challenges him to find the reason for his imprisonment.

Dae-Su blacks out only to awaken in the apartment of the restaurant’s pretty, young waitress, Mido (Kang Hye-Jung). Mi-Do helps him search for his hidden prison, but one night, Dae-Su finds Mi-Do exchanging emails with a mysterious stranger who seems to know all about him. Convinced Mi-Do has betrayed him, he continues the search on his own.

Dae-Su locates his former prison and beats up the gangsters who served as his captors. A tape offers clues as to his enemy’s motives, but not his identity. Dae-Su blacks out on the street and after being helped into a cab by his mysterious, but still unnamed foe, he ends up back at Mi-Do’s. An old friend who owns a cyber café helps Dae-Su discover that Mi-Do’s emailer, “Evergreen”, is indeed the man who had him locked up. Dae-Su is enraged by Mi-Do’s apparent betrayal, but a face-to-face confrontation with his smooth-talking adversary ends with Dae-Su’s conviction that she is innocent. The man gives Dae-Su five days to discover who he is and why he imprisoned him. He is told that if he succeeds, the man will kill himself; if he does not, he will kill Mi-Do.

Final clues lead Dae-Su back to his old high school, where he discovers that his enemy is fellow graduate Lee Woo-Jin (Yoo Ji-Tae), whose sister, Soo-Ah (Yoon Jin-Seo), committed suicide years before. Dae-Su confronts Lee in his ultra-modern penthouse apartment, only to discover that his enemy’s tortures are just beginning.

Notes

  1. "Old Boy" is the second installment in director Park Chan-Wook's "revenge trilogy" - story lines are not related.
  2. "Old Boy" premiered at the 57th Cannes Film Festival, where the jury, chaired by Quentin Tarantino, awarded Oldboy the Grand Prix.
  3. For its domestic theatrical run "Oldboy" appeared on 45 screens and took in a total of 3,269,000 admissions. The film became the 4th highest grossing film for all domestic films and the 6th highest grossing for all films screened in South Korea in 2003.
  4. Related titles
    1. Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance | Boksuneun naui geot (2002)
    2. Old Boy | Oldeuboi (2003)
    3. Sympathy for Lady Vengeance | Chinjeolhan geumjassi (2005)

Cast

Oldboy-Choi Min-Sik.jpg Old Boy-Yu Ji-Tae.jpg Old Boy-Kang Hye-Jeong.jpg Oldboy-Kim Byeong-Ok.jpg Oldboy-Oh Dal-Su.jpg
Choi Min-Sik Yoo Ji-Tae Kang Hye-Jung Kim Byung-Ok Oh Dal-Su
Oh Dae-Su Lee Woo-Jin Mi-Do Mr. Han Park Cheol-Woong

Additional Cast Members:

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Comments

KST Jan 03 2026 9:01 am I just watched it on 31st of December.

KST Jan 03 2026 9:00 am Amazing film with plot twisted

Arinshah Samsudin Sep 11 2025 11:27 pm One of the best movies i've watched.. The Hollywood remake mutilated the original!

Ish Jan 29 2024 4:48 pm Too dark and disturbing for me. I wish I didn't watch it.

SoKima Jul 14 2023 10:00 am One advice : Don't watch. I wish I didn't watch. The start is good then it becomes sick and disturbing. What kind of man makes such a movie ?

alex Nov 16 2021 10:19 pm @FluidWire I'd still say this is an original movie despite it being adapted. I don't know if you've read the comics but there's actually very little death/violence in them compared to the film, not to mention the ending and characters are massively different. 'Original' doesn't always have to be the earliest iteration of something, it's more about bringing anything new to the table, and that can include subversions to existing stories.

Anyway your comment is 7 years old so I'm shouting into the void here... Oh Dae-su would be proud.

Arci Jun 10 2020 4:27 am The story was so good as well as the actors.One of the best movies, this is my very first Korean movie.

Oliveoyl Apr 04 2020 5:40 am I cringe many times after the truth revealed. Very disturbing and dark. 2 thumbs up movie, but I will not watch it for the 2nd times.

And oh, since I watch Hospital Playlist, this is so good to see young Yoo yeon seok here. Hmm..

K Sep 05 2018 3:40 am Damn it's so dark, disturbing and twisted in so many ways. A one of a kind masterpiece

have a good dayy Dec 23 2017 11:18 pm this movie is soooo dark i can’t watch it till the end

pardeep Jul 12 2017 7:29 am i learned a great lesson from this movie. Do not imagine, u will brave like hell.

sumpi Nov 11 2016 7:12 pm very disturbing but one hell of a masterpiece.....i would say.

Suresh Oct 10 2016 7:58 am Another favourite in my list...

shin Dec 14 2015 4:31 am this movie is a revolution in the asian film industry...it's so good

suranga Nov 05 2015 11:01 pm This is the first korean movie i ever watched and this is the best shocking one.this movie take you to a another demention and prove how people can repay their revenge soo cruelty. highly recommend this if you have stomach to watch it...

Prikitiew Oct 05 2014 7:56 am I wondering what will Haru said when she saw her mom naked..

Fluidwire Jun 23 2014 2:05 am @Misa you said it was so original?? 

 Actually it was Based on Japanese Manga "Oldboy" by Nobuaki Minegishi and Garon Tsuchiya.   
 So it was adaptation movie.   
 Nothing so original in a movie nowadays.

Misa Apr 06 2014 12:02 am i have seen an hollywood adaptation for this movie and... we can't even compare them. this movie was so original, so full of vengeance and can't be replace with the other. the cast, the plot everything were just too perfect!

javadth Mar 10 2014 3:33 am old boy is the good movie

Lancideim Feb 22 2014 2:32 am Truly a...profound experience. Why it was on Fearnet is beyond me, but long story short it was a 2 hours well spent. These "Revenge Flick" thriller movies are usually hit or miss. This one hit the mark, dead-on.

Multishopbd.com Jul 13 2013 7:53 am This is one of the greatest movie of all time :)

kan8 Apr 09 2013 1:06 am With Respect to the Hard work And Good Job of The Cast,This is My Worst Movie Of All time.Why?...Just Because They Dared to Show Sex Between Siblings(Brother&Sister)No Need to Explain Why This is Absoloutely Wrong,But Just I Can Say That This is The Worst Scene That I Ever seen.Korean Cinema industry:U Must Not Be Like This And Allow These Corruption And Dirty Actions,Just Follow Korean Rich Culture Not American Lack of Culture

siti Dec 10 2012 11:45 pm Speechless after watching this movie

Yogessegoy Mar 06 2012 9:39 pm when i saw this First time i really shocked, hated very much after that, i don't know i started liking this movie like hell....This is the best movie i ever saw...

Hugo Dec 31 2011 7:37 am Very haunting, disturbing masterpiece... lost my mind for a day thinking about this

Sephiroz Jul 30 2011 5:44 pm Best Korean Movie.It's A Perfect Film,And Really Right It's In Imdb 250.

puppy Dec 16 2010 3:18 am the best movie i've seen so far

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