History Film / Oldboy

* DramaticIrony: [[spoiler:Woo-jin's plan, which involves fifteen years of work to make Dae-Su have sex with his daughter, effectively equally ruining Dae-su's life by putting him in the same position.]]

* TheOner: A number of them throughout the film.

* LoveAtFirstSight: Deconstructed.

* BoundAndGagged

* [[spoiler:BrotherSisterIncest: spoiler:Woo-jin and his sister]].

* BrotherSisterIncest: [[spoiler:Woo-jin and his sister]].

* ParentalIncest

* SurpriseIncest

[[quoteright:400:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/oldboy.jpg]]

A South Korean movie very loosely based on [[Manga/{{Oldboy}} the Japanese manga of the same name]], and is the second and most well-known installment of [[Creator/ParkChanWook Park Chan-wook's]] Vengeance Trilogy, which begins with ''Film/SympathyForMrVengeance'' and ends with ''Film/SympathyForLadyVengeance''. The film also has several parallels to ''Literature/TheCountOfMonteCristo'', as well as {{Shout Out}}s to ''Theatre/TitusAndronicus''.

* CynicismCatalyst: It turns out that [[spoiler:Woo-jin's motivation of revenge against Dae-su is in the form of Soo-ah, his little sister]].

* [[spoiler:TheBadGuyWins]]: [[spoiler:Woo-jin gets his revenge, though he shoots himself in the head almost immediately afterwards.]]

* [[spoiler:BrotherSisterIncest]]: [[spoiler:Woo-jin and his sister]].

* [[spoiler:CryForTheDevil: Not minutes after Woo-jin destroys Dae-su's life, the film cuts to a flashback of Woo-jin unsuccessfully trying to prevent Soo-ah's suicide, which occurred because of Dae-su's carelessness. To finally rub it in, ''present-day Woo-jin promptly kills himself.'']]

** [[spoiler:YMMV on whether it was ever tantalizing. The age difference alone can make it pretty {{Squick}}.]]

* [[spoiler:IncestIsRelative]]: [[spoiler:Well, Mi-do doesn't ''know''...]]

* [[spoiler:ParentalIncest]]

* [[spoiler:SurpriseIncest]]

* [[spoiler:DeadLittleSister]]: Pretty much the crux of Woo-jin's motivation.

* FaceDeathWithDignity: Subverted. [[spoiler: Woo-jin takes a hot shower and puts on his best suit before going into the lift to calmly commit suicide. But he cries during his memories about his DeadLittleSister before shooting himself.]]

A South Korean movie very loosely based on [[Manga/{{Oldboy}} the Japanese manga of the same name]], and is the second and most well-known installment of [[Creator/ParkChanWook Park Chan-wook's]] Vengeance Trilogy, which begins with ''[[SympathyForMrVengeance Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance]]'' and ends with ''SympathyForLadyVengeance''. The film also has several parallels to ''Literature/TheCountOfMonteCristo'', as well as {{Shout Out}}s to ''Theatre/TitusAndronicus''.

* HeKnowsTooMuch: [[spoiler:Joo-hwan was one of the people responsible for the rumor saying that Soo-ah was a slut, so Woo-jin kills him.]]

* EveryoneWentToSchoolTogether: Dae-su with Joo-hwan, Woo-jin [[spoiler:and Soo-ah.]]

But just days before his long-awaited breakout fifteen years later, he is just as mysteriously released, with nice clothes, money, a cell phone, a severely weakened psyche, a fugitive status and a million unanswered questions. With the help of a female Japanese chef named Mido and one of his old computer-geek friends, he tries to piece together the scattered clues of who took his life away from him, cutting down anyone who gets in his path.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: [[spoiler:Woo-jin tells the prison warden not to let Mido know of the incest.]]
* EveryoneWentToSchoolTogether: Dae-su with Woo-jin [[spoiler:and Soo-ah.]]

* FanDisservice: [[spoiler: The first time audiences see the sex scene between Dae-Su and Mido, it's probably tantalizing. Once they're hit with the revelation of Mido being his daughter, the scene is much less appealing in retrospect or upon repeated viewings.]]

** And when he finds out that [[spoiler: [[{{Squick}} Mido is his daughter]].]]

* [[spoiler:IncestIsRelative]]: [[spoiler:Well, Mido doesn't ''know''...]]

* TheJailer

* ManicPixieDreamGirl: [[spoiler: Subverted. Mido appears to be one in the beginning, but it later turns out she has been hypnotised.]]

* TokenRomance: An irrelevant subplot which is subverted in the case of Oh Dae-su and Mi-Do, since [[spoiler: it's part of the villain's revenge scheme.]]

* [[UglyGuyHotWife Ugly Guy Hot Girlfriend]]: Oh Dae-su and Mi-Do. [[spoiler:Justified since Woo-jin hypnotized them into falling in love with each other.]]
* UnwittingPawn: [[spoiler:Mido, and to a lesser extent Oh Dae-Su.]]

* ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler:The angel wings for Dae-su's daughter is mentioned at the beginning of the film by Dae-su himself and later on, appears again when Mi-do wears it.]]

* ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler:The angel wings for Dae-su's daughter.]]

* ButForMeItWasTuesday: [[spoiler:An exceedingly rare heroic example: Oh Dae-su accuses Woo-jin of hypnotising him to forget that he was the initial cause of events that led to Woo-Jin's sister's suicide. However:]]
--> [[spoiler: '''Lee Woo-Jin:''' You weren't drugged. You just forgot. It wasn't important to you.]]

* [[spoiler:DeadLittleSister]]: Pretty much the crux of Woo-Jin's motivation.

* [[spoiler:BrotherSisterIncest]]: [[spoiler:Woo-Jin and his sister]].

* ButForMeItWasTuesday: [[spoiler:An exceedingly rare heroic example: Oh Dae-su accuses Woo-Jin of hypnotising him to forget that he was the initial cause of events that led to Woo-Jin's sister's suicide. However:]]

* TheChessmaster: Lee Woo-Jin. And as the film picks up speed, [[XanatosSpeedChess he gets faster.]]

* DisproportionateRetribution: Woo-Jin practically IS this trope.

--> '''Woo-Jin:''' Oh Dae-su talk too much.
** Somewhat justified, in that [[spoiler:Dae-Su caught Woo-Jin having sex with his own sister, then promptly told his friends, who told their friends, etc., all culminating not only in enormous amounts of personal embarassment for Woo-Jin but also in his sister, who he dearly loved, killing herself. Almost everything about his revenge is intended to make Dae-Su suffer as he did.]]

* EnigmaticMinion: Mr. Han, Woo-Jin's silent bodyguard. [[spoiler: He gets one line in the whole movie and almost kills Dae-Su before getting shot in the head by his employer.]]

--> [[spoiler: '''Lee Woo-Jin''': You weren't drugged. You just forgot. It wasn't important to you.]]

** His reason for locking up Dae-Su for ''fifteen years?'' [[spoiler:"You talk too much."]]

A South Korean movie very loosely based on a Japanese manga of the same name, and is the second and most well-known installment of [[Creator/ParkChanWook Park Chan-wook's]] Vengeance Trilogy, which begins with ''[[SympathyForMrVengeance Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance]]'' and ends with ''SympathyForLadyVengeance''. The film also has several parallels to ''Literature/TheCountOfMonteCristo'', as well as {{Shout Out}}s to ''Theatre/TitusAndronicus''.

->''Laugh and the world laughs with you. Weep and you weep alone.''


A South Korean movie very loosely based on a Japanese manga of the same name, and is the second and most well-known installment of [[ParkChanWook Park Chan-wook's]] Vengeance Trilogy, which begins with ''[[SympathyForMrVengeance Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance]]'' and ends with ''SympathyForLadyVengeance''. The film also has several parallels to ''Literature/TheCountOfMonteCristo'', as well as {{Shout Out}}s to ''Theatre/TitusAndronicus''.

-->'''Oh Dae-Su''': Can the imaginary training of fifteen years be put to use? [successfully defeats several thugs]\\

* MeaningfulEcho: Several: