[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/oldboy.jpg]]

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

'''''Oldboy''''' is 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''.

Oh Dae-su is an alcoholic businessman with a wife and daughter who is released by the police after a night of drunken misconduct, and then is abruptly kidnapped without a trace. Locked inside a hotel room, completely cut off from the outside world except for a TV, and drugged with knock-out gas every so often, he eventually learns that during his disappearance his wife has been killed, and he has been framed as the murderer. Enraged by his predicament, he finds ways to pass the time, writing his memoirs, [[TookALevelInBadass training his fists]] and slowly inching towards his eventual escape.

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 Mi-do and one of his old computer-geek friends, No Joo-hwan, he tries to piece together the scattered clues of who took his life away from him, cutting down anyone who gets in his path.

An English-language remake has been in development for some time, and Creator/SpikeLee has been chosen to direct with [[NoCountryForOldMen Josh]] [[Film/AmericanGangster Brolin]] in the lead role.

'''Since this is a movie that has some major twists and surprises,''' '''''watch out for spoilers.'''''

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!!The film contains examples of:

* AlasPoorVillain: [[spoiler: Right before Woo-jin commits suicide we have a {{tearjerker}} flashback of when his sister committed suicide. Creator/QuentinTarantino was at the screening and was shocked to find himself crying for a character who had been completely despicable for the prior duration of the movie.]]
* AlwaysSaveTheGirl: [[spoiler:Oh Dae-su cuts out his own tongue to ensure he can never let Mi-do know that she is his daughter.]]
* AndIMustScream: Oh Dae-su's predicament for fifteen years.
** And then again, [[spoiler:after he cuts out his tongue.]]
* TheBadGuyWins: [[spoiler:Woo-jin gets his revenge, though he shoots himself in the head almost immediately afterwards.]]
* BatmanGambit
* BoundAndGagged
* [[spoiler:BrotherSisterIncest: 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:]]
--> [[spoiler: '''Lee Woo-jin:''' You weren't drugged. You just forgot. It wasn't important to you.]]
* 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 at the film's climax when Mi-do wears it.]]
* TheChessmaster: Lee Woo-jin. And as the film picks up speed, [[XanatosSpeedChess he gets faster.]]
* CryForTheDevil: [[spoiler: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.'']]
* CycleOfRevenge
* DawsonCasting: Inverted - the actor of Lee Woo-jin, Yoo Ji-tae, was born in 1976, while a scene in which his character is a teenager takes place in 1979.
* DisproportionateRetribution: Woo-jin practically IS this trope.
** His reason for locking up Dae-su for ''fifteen years?''
--> '''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.]]
* 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.]]
* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:Soo-ah, and later Woo-jin.]]
* DropTheHammer
* 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.]]
* EvenEvilHasStandards: [[spoiler:Woo-jin tells the prison warden not to let Mi-do know of the incest.]]
* EveryoneWentToSchoolTogether: Dae-su with Joo-hwan, Woo-jin and [[spoiler:his sister, Soo-ah.]]
* EverythingsSquishierWithCephalopods: The live octopus-eating scene.
* EyeScream: Oh Dae-su stabs one of Woo-jin's henchmen in the eye with a broken toothbrush. We don't see anything gory, though.
* 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 Soo-ah, his deceased sister, before shooting himself.]]
* FauxAffablyEvil: Woo-jin might be pretty charming, but that demeanor actually hides his vengeful self.
* FanDisservice: [[spoiler: The first time audiences see the sex scene between Dae-Su and Mi-do, it's probably tantalizing. Once they're hit with the revelation of Mi-do being his daughter, the scene is much less appealing in retrospect or upon repeated viewings.]]
* {{Fingore}}: Mr. Park defects to Dae-su's side after Woo-jin amputates his hand. [[spoiler: That's the cover story. In reality Park gave his hand up willingly to gain Dae-su's trust.]]
* FiveFiveFive: Averted, as the address - both the street number and PO box - to Dae-su's daughter's foster parents in reality belongs to [[http://www.firsthotels.com/en/Our-hotels/Sweden/Stockholm/First-Hotel-Amaranten/ a hotel in Stockholm]].
* GambitRoulette: Woo-jin. So much.
* GoMadFromTheRevelation: Dae-su, after learning he has been framed for the murder of his wife.
** And when he finds out that [[spoiler: [[{{Squick}} Mi-do is his daughter]].]]
* GoryDiscretionShot: Two occurances: When Dae-su rips out Mr Park's teeth with the fork of a hammer, [[spoiler: and when he cuts his own tongue out.]]
* HeKnowsTooMuch: Not only was Dae-su locked up by Woo-jin for [[spoiler:spreading the rumors about his sister, Soo-ah, being a slut]], but [[spoiler:he also had his friend, Joo-hwan, who was one of the people responsible for said rumor, killed by Woo-jin.]]
* InformedSelfDiagnosis
* IronicEcho: PlayedForLaughs:
-->'''Oh Dae-Su''': Can the imaginary training of fifteen years be put to use? [successfully defeats several thugs] ''Apparently, it can.''\\
[later]\\
'''Oh Dae-Su''': Can the imaginary training of fifteen years be put to use? [fought off by a helpless young woman] ''No. It can't.''
* JackBauerInterrogationTechnique
* TheJailer: Mr. Han.
* LimitedSpecialCollectorsUltimateEdition: Quite a few different editions for the film have been released, including various limited editions.
* LoveAtFirstSight: Deconstructed.
* ManicPixieDreamGirl: [[spoiler: Subverted. Mi-do appears to be one in the beginning, but it later turns out she has been hypnotised.]]
* MeaningfulEcho:
-->[[spoiler:'''Suicidal Man/Dae-Su''': ''Even though I'm no better than a beast, don't I have the right to live?]]''\\
[[spoiler:'''Cell Poster/Photo Album''': ''Laugh and the world laughs with you. Weep and you weep alone.]]''
* NearRapeExperience: Interestingly, PlayedForLaughs.
* NoAnimalsWereHarmed: Very Averted. Four real octopuses were used for the eating scenee. (Choi Min-sik, a Buddhist in real life, gave a prayer before eating each one.)
* TheOner: A number of them throughout the film.
* [[spoiler:ParentalIncest]]
* PayEvilUntoEvil: Dae-su's torture of Mr. Park, though he tortures him only for information on why he was imprisoned.
* PsychologicalHorror
* PunchAWall: A large part of Oh Dae-su's self-training.
* ShoutOut: To ''Theatre/TitusAndronicus'' including the scene [[spoiler:with the tongue, and the father-daughter incest]].
* SoundtrackDissonance: Vivaldi's ''Winter'' plays while Oh Dae-su rips Mr Park's teeth out.
* [[spoiler:SurpriseIncest]]
* 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.]]
* TookALevelInBadass: This one is deconstructed too. Fifteen years in a private prison have turned Dae-su into a fearless killing machine, but all of this seems to fit into the villain's plan.
* TheToothHurts: The tooth-pulling scene.
* [[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:Mi-do, and to a lesser extent Oh Dae-Su.]]
* VengeanceFeelsEmpty: This is, rather explicitly, the entire point of the film. [[spoiler: Immediately after successfully completing his massive, 15 year BatmanGambit, the BigBad [[DrivenToSuicide blows his brains out]].]]
* VictoryIsBoring: [[spoiler:Woo-jin; after destroying Dae-Su, Woo-jin states he has nothing to live for now he has his vengeance. ''Cue Woo-jin suddenly blowing his brains out in the elevator.'']]
* VillainousBreakdown: [[spoiler:Woo-jin before his suicide.]]
* WhatTheHellHero: [[spoiler:Regardless of if it was unintentional, Oh Dae-Su drove a pregnant Soo-ah to suicide by gossiping about her incestuous relationship with her brother.]]
* WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer
* WipeThatSmileOffYourFace: Or, more accurately, ''[[JackBauerInterrogationTechnique forcibly remove it with a claw-hammer]]''.
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