Oldboy
Finally got around to finishing this movie. This film has always been one I've been excited to see all the way through, not just because it comes from my country of origin, but because I only ever saw chunks of scenes and random plot Synopsis' from YouTube videos. Which is exactly why I don't love this movie as much as I thought I would.
Before I explain why it didn't live up to my expectations I want to commend this film for all it's amazing qualities. The acting from each cast member is absolutely amazing the only time I felt underwhelmed could easily be chalked up to cultural and language differences between me and the characters. This film also looks amazing, the use of color, and framing of certain shots are so satisfying to view, the cinematography is so amazing that there are countless shots and scenes in this film that kept me engaged. The music is emotionally powerful and gripping with the main theme being probably one of my favorite from any movie ever. The writing and pacing are superb, I never once felt bored; each moment kept me hooked waiting for the next scene to happen.
Now with all that being said let's move on to the complaints. First and most obvious the cg; though scarcely used has aged pretty badly, some of the scene transitions involving a cg clock looked absolutely ridiculous and nearly took me out of the film, and character dynamics between the main character and the girl felt, pretty odd though to be fair it did play into the movie's plot so I can't really complain, and lastly a lot of the more emotional and shocking scenes didn't affect me as much as I'd hoped.
This is absolutely not the movies fault, and 100% has to do with me. You see when I was younger I would constantly watch YouTube videos to a point where I would get my information on movies from there, including the plot, themes, and characters. I was unintentionally spoiling myself of countless movies, blissfully unaware of the potential viewing experience I was robbing myself of. This of course led me to a similar style of video about Oldboy, which not only spoiled the plot but the ending, the twist, the motivations, and basically everything I could've experienced on my own. Now to be frank the video did disclaim that there would be no restrain on spoilers, but I was too foolish to care.
This is the sole reason the movie isn't as nearly as emotionally powerful as it could've been for me, and I always been mad at myself for ruining that for myself, because if it wasn't for my addiction to YouTube, this probably would've been my favorite movie of all time.
At the end of the day though this movie is phemoninal. It's regarded as one of the best for a reason.
Truly Absolute Cinema 🙌