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The Butterfly
Tornado Alley
This review may contain spoilers
"Even though I'm no better than a beast, don't I deserve the right to live?"
Oldboy was an unflinching violent revenge film that would have made a Greek tragedy blush. I watched this film during its 20th anniversary year and the production values held up. The storytelling's misogynistic overtones dated it and didn't hold up as well. I've not mentioned any of the major plot twists in this review.
Choi Min Shik as the deeply flawed Oh Dae Soo did a marvelous job transitioning from drunk, philandering husband to confused, bitter prisoner to vengeful vigilante searching for answers. Yoo Ji Tae made a decidedly creepy and vengeful Lee Woo Jin. The two men whose lives were intertwined by a careless comment were at their best when playing cat and mouse.
The action scenes showed that nearly anything can be transformed into a weapon. You may never see toothbrushes the same. A hallway fight leading to an elevator fight were truly iconic and I can see where they influenced many other fight scenes in television and film. Dae Soo's commitment verging on insanity was frighteningly powerful.
Where the film failed me were the women's roles. Their very existence seemed to be as vessels of the men's lust and "love". They played into the men's circle of vengeance with no real identities. Of course, they were necessary to have several gratuitous bare breast shots and being threatened with sexual violence. Mi Do accepted it as perfectly normal when Dae Soo attempted to rape her. And the final plot twist, sick as it was, once again left her without any choice or agency of her own.
While Woo Jin's revenge long game was vile, the film seemed determined to make Dae Soo as unsympathetic as possible from beginning to end. His one moment of empathy was cut short by self-gratification. In the end the film doubled-down on his troubling personality. There was no redemption arc, no moment of healing, no positive character growth, only primal animal instincts. As a thought exercise in tearing away the veneer of civilization, the film succeeded in a disturbing manner.
9/2/23
Choi Min Shik as the deeply flawed Oh Dae Soo did a marvelous job transitioning from drunk, philandering husband to confused, bitter prisoner to vengeful vigilante searching for answers. Yoo Ji Tae made a decidedly creepy and vengeful Lee Woo Jin. The two men whose lives were intertwined by a careless comment were at their best when playing cat and mouse.
The action scenes showed that nearly anything can be transformed into a weapon. You may never see toothbrushes the same. A hallway fight leading to an elevator fight were truly iconic and I can see where they influenced many other fight scenes in television and film. Dae Soo's commitment verging on insanity was frighteningly powerful.
Where the film failed me were the women's roles. Their very existence seemed to be as vessels of the men's lust and "love". They played into the men's circle of vengeance with no real identities. Of course, they were necessary to have several gratuitous bare breast shots and being threatened with sexual violence. Mi Do accepted it as perfectly normal when Dae Soo attempted to rape her. And the final plot twist, sick as it was, once again left her without any choice or agency of her own.
While Woo Jin's revenge long game was vile, the film seemed determined to make Dae Soo as unsympathetic as possible from beginning to end. His one moment of empathy was cut short by self-gratification. In the end the film doubled-down on his troubling personality. There was no redemption arc, no moment of healing, no positive character growth, only primal animal instincts. As a thought exercise in tearing away the veneer of civilization, the film succeeded in a disturbing manner.
9/2/23
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