It's a movie of such jaw-dropping violence, wild improbability and dazzling style it overpowers all resistance.
90
Village VoiceMichael Atkinson
Village VoiceMichael Atkinson
Whatever its oversteps and excesses (I do think Park ran a little amok with the computer gimcrackery), Oldboy has the bulldozing nerve and full-blooded passion of a classic.
As always with Park Chanwook, you just hold on and let him rip.
88
PremiereGlenn Kenny
PremiereGlenn Kenny
Once the picture gets into Hollywood's bloodstream, it could well prove to be as influential as John Woo's 1989 crime thriller, "The Killer."
80
VarietyDerek Elley
VarietyDerek Elley
A wild, intensely cinematic ride into two men's burning desire to get even.
80
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
The result is a powerfully visceral experience that justifies itself almost entirely on surface chops, with striking color composition and a complex sound design that elevates the story to an operatic scale.
Oldboy has the fatal air of wanting so desperately to be a cult movie that it forgets to present itself as a coherent one.
50
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
Oldboy caused a love-it-or-hate-it stir at Cannes last year, and how could it not: It's an onslaught made to cause a sensation. Consider me simultaneously jolted and depressed.