DISCLAIMER: I did not see this movie in its original language(Korean), but in a dubbed version(Italian). I may have missed some nuances.

I've seen this movie recommended everywhere and, now that I've seen it, I can definitely see why. What an incredible movie! It really captivated me and I think I may be Park Chan-wook newest fan. I will certainly check out his other movies!

But let's talk about Oldboy. Let's start with discussing the plot. The movie doesn't waste any time at all, it goes straight into it. Five minutes in and I was already captivated and invested in Dae-su's story.
Watching him imprisoned as life goes on outside, with the TV as his only company, you can really empathize with him. You totally get his furious need for revenge and explanations. I won't discuss the plot any longer here, I don't want to make any spoiler. But I will say that it is a very interesting story throughout the whole 2 hours runtime, which not many movie can do. It does have some pacing issue in the last half, in my opinion, but nothing too bad.

A thing I had always heard good praise about Oldboy is the fight scenes. And I have to say that the movie delivered in that aspect as well. The corridor fight scene is one of the greatest ever, but in general every fight felt real. Obviously there was some exaggeration in the ability of the characters to just tank hits after hits, but that is to be expected. After all, a totally realistic fight would be quite boring in a movie.
You could tell that all the fight scenes in Oldboy were well rehearsed and the choreography was marvelously done. Every hit looked like it actually made contact and inflicted damage. There was no excessive use of jump cuts. Just awesome!

The actors were equally good. Choi Min-sik was incredible as the protagonist, truly an amazing performance. I also loved Yoo Ji-tae, what a great villain he portrayed. I'll look for more movies with them.

The aspect that most surprised me about this movie was the music, though. An absolutely beautiful score. Go listen to The Last Waltz (Mido's theme) on Youtube. So full of emotion.

I can suggest Oldboy to anyone. It is excellent and it could be a great entry into Korean movies. It's thrilling and it keeps you on your toes, with great fights sprinkled in. What more do you want?
Awesome movie about revenge, I will definitely watch the other two of the Vengeance Trilogy by this director.

9/10