Hero: Oh Daesu
From: Oldboy, 2003
Hasn't got a superpower but: He's incredibly detached.
So what can he do?
Scissors, a hammer and his fists are about all you'd find in Daesu's utility belt. But bludgeoning faces, pulling teeth and severing body parts so masterfully wouldn't be possible if not for his other unique ability: a complete lack of pity. Don't try this at home, kids, because being stripped of all humanity to this extent is only attainable by fifteen years of unexplained imprisonment.
Origins:
Oh Daesu. His name means "gets along with people." Well, tell that to the pile of bodies he leaves in his wake. A drunken goofball most of his life, Daesu wakes up one day to find himself locked away in a room for no discernable reason. Not a prison cell, mind you. His cage is more of a decorated hotel room, several floors up in the middle of the city, that emits valium gas from the air ducts when an unseen someone wants him to go beddy-bye.
For fifteen years, he sees no one and is denied contact with his wife and daughter without any explanation. But let it not be said that Oh Daesu wasted his solitude. He uses his incarceration to study television, bloody his fists against the wall, hallucinate ants, and go otherwise batshit insane.
And, just like that, he wakes up on a rooftop with a cell phone and a wad of cash. Surely, someone has to die now. Somewhere around biting into a live octopus, he poses this question to himself:
Yes. Yes it can. And apparently, said training can work on thirty armed thugs at a time with a knife stuck in your back. Observe:
The Disc:
The disc lacks the three hour documentary and director approved transfer found in previous editions. But it does contain three commentaries, deleted scenes, and it's beautiful to behold in all its violent, incestuous glory. Seriously kids, Oldboy is easily one of the best movies in the last five years. See it soon before Hollywood remakes it with Mandy Moore and Freddie Prinze Jr. We promise, the subtitles won't hurt.
Trivia:
That three minute fight scene above took three days to shoot.
Wanna see the goriest flicks in High Definition? Click the disturbing image below:
Feb 20, 2008
