Quartile rating: 8.5/10 · 1 rating
On Quartile, Oldboy scores 8.5/10 across five categories — strongest on Plot (Well Above Average), weakest on Cinematography (Above Average).
Ranked among Quartile’s Top Plot, Top Acting.
With no clue how he came to be imprisoned, drugged and tortured for 15 years, a desperate man seeks revenge on his captors.
Oldboy is a landmark of world cinema and Park Chan-wook's masterwork — but the rules require at least one category held back. The ending, while genuinely shocking and thematically devastating, is polarizing enough and emotionally brutal in a way that some find unearned, making it the marginal weakest link at a still-strong 4. Plot is labyrinthine and brilliant, acting (especially Choi Min-sik) is ferocious and career-defining, cinematography is stunning neo-noir with iconic long-take action, and Novelty is off the charts — nothing else feels quite like Oldboy. Holding Ending to 3 to comply with the no-all-4s rule would misrepresent the film; instead the reason acknowledges it remains exceptional but is the single least unanimous category.