With “Oldboy,” Park Chan-wook offers a revenge tale at its most unhinged. And for the 20th anniversary of the film’s release, NEON has a remastered print of the modern masterpiece ready to hit theaters this summer. Ready to relive the triumph and agony of Oh Dae-su’s tale? Well, Park Chan-wook fans, now’s your chance.
For the uninitiated, “Oldboy” follows Oh Dae-su, a South Korean businessman kidnapped and forced to live in a hotel room for fifteen years. Then suddenly, he’s released, and he vows to track down both his captors and the daughter who may have forgotten about him. But there’s something much more sinister to these circumstances than Oh Dae-su realizes.
Choi Min-sik leads the cast of “Oldboy” as Oh Dae-su. Other cast members include Yoo Ji-tae, Kang Hye-jung, Ji Dae-han, Kim Byeong-ok, and Yoon Jin-seo. Chan-wook co-writes the film with Hwong Jo-yun and Lim Jun-hyung. The film is a loose adaptation of the Japanese manga series of the same name by Garon Tsuchiya and Nobuaki Minegishi.
“Oldboy” is a modern classic, an action-revenge epic with several classic scenes and a psychologically brutal climax. So while Park Chan-wook fans await the release of his next limited series, “The Sympathizer,” on Max in 2024, see “Oldboy” on the big screen again beforehand. NEON drops their restored and remastered print in theaters on August 16. Watch a trailer for “Oldboy” below.