It's hard to make an argument for Oldboy based on anything other than pure cinematics, but when the style speaks this loudly, it's an argument worth making.
– Scott Tobias,
AV Club,
26 Sep 2005
fresh:
Quite an achievement then, and well worthy of its Cannes prize.
– Trevor Johnston,
Time Out,
26 Jan 2006
rotten:
There's a lot less here than meets the eye.
– J. R. Jones,
Chicago Reader,
17 Apr 2007
fresh:
Shakespearean in its violence, Oldboy also calls up nightmare images of spiritual and physical isolation that are worthy of Samuel Beckett or Dostoyevsky.
– Joe Morgenstern,
Wall Street Journal,
15 Apr 2013
fresh:
Both brutal and lyrical, writer-director Park Chan-wook's existential nail-biter has torture scenes that will have you avoiding dentists, sushi bars and badly appointed hotel rooms.