Words. They can make a person do, act, and feel a certain way. Words can be constructed into a sentence to tell someone you love them, loathe them, despise them, ande even cause one to question someone else's words that were said earlier. Words, funnily enough can even transcend time, regardless of length. Words that were uttered 5, maybe 10 or 15 years ago, can still have an impact on the way you currently live your life.... It can even change the way you live your life... forever.

Meet Oh Dae-su. He lets the words just pour from his mouth when he's had too much to drink. It's this drunken stupor that we find him in when our story begins. He's been accused of flirting with another man's girlfriend, and taken to the police station to await the arival of his friend Joo-hwan. After many times to try an explain himself as to why he shouldn't be held for something he didn't do, Joo-hwan shows up, and bails him out. The two head to a pay phone to call Oh Dae-su's family and explain that Oh Dae-su is coming home with a present for his three year-old daughter. It's when Joo-hwan explains to Oh Dae-su's wife that he's drunk, and is on his way home and looks around for Oh Dae-su to find that he's gone. Vanished without a trace.

Someone wants Oh Dae-su, badly. But what for? And who is it that wants him so badly?!? He begins to wrack his brain. He's not held in a actual prison, but it might as well be one. He has food, bathroom, shower, and television. There's a iron pipe that emits a gas into his room when a particular song is played, and he passes out. When he awakes, his hair is cut, clothes changed and the room is cleaned. Someone has gone through a LOT of trouble to keep him alive...Days turn into months, months turn into years. Oh Dae-su begins to keep journals by trying to remember all the names of the people he may have angered... who could it be? And WHY?? He watches TV, to know what's going on outside, and eventually is able to make a hole behind his bed to touch rain water after years of secretly digging.  One night, a woman comes in and hypnotizes Oh Dae-su... and when he awakes, he's free...   After 15 years of imprisonment, he's outisde in a field of green grass...  And to thinik, all of the maddness is really only the beginning!

I had heard about OLDBOY for a while, and had wanted to see it when it was in the theatres... but no one I knew wanted to see it.  What a shame, because I know that most of my friends would LOVE this movie. The whole plot of this movie will unfold rather swiftly, so you must pay attention.  I must say, that the violence in this movie is necessary, that's right NECESSARY. If you were in Oh Dae-su's shoes, the question of "why" would plague your mind, causing many a nightmare, and would be the sole purpose in your life that keeps you living.  Every actor in this film deserves an award.  This is NOT a film for the weak.  By watching this film, you will learn just what revenge is, was, or could be.  The special effects are expertly placed, and by no means overdone.  It would remind you of some of the transitions you may have seen in Amelie somewhat.  Make sure that when you go to see this film, that you're not in the middle of doing something else. The emotional draw this film has can only be measured by the gravitational pull found when re-entering the Earth's atmosphere.  It will make you review your own life.   And oh, be mindful of the dumplings...  

– Brian K. James