4. Oldboy
Old Boy is one of the best films to come out of the inventive Korean cinema scene in recent memory. Concerning the intriguing set-up of a man imprisoned for over two decades for reasons unknown, it spirals into something dark, mesmerising and beautiful as well as possessing one of the most gut-punching twists committed to celluloid. However, it fully deserves its 18 rating for a combination of sex, violence, adult themes and a man eating an live octopus. But of those four things, the most prevalent is the level of violence which punctuates this film. Theres all sorts of brutal things happening in Park Chan-Wooks moody opus, from bone breaking to tongue slicing to teeth removal. Yet one thing will always stand out to those whove seen it the corridor scene. Yes,
that scene. Granted, its not a traditional fight scene mano-e-mano style, because it concerns our psychotic whirling dervish of a protagonist Oh Dae-Su taking on an entire corridor of armed goons wielding nought but a hammer. What follows is brutal, ambitious and technically tremendous, seeing as it was shot all in one take. Its like nothing youve ever seen before at one moment Oh looks as if hes on top, then he gets dog-piled by the overwhelming crowds, then he starts breaking legs with a hammer. Its utterly tremendous, completely ridiculous and you know once youve watched it completely unique. Its this sort of brutal, imaginative scene that Korean cinema is famous for, and if ever you wanted a microcosm of that, the fight in the corridor would be more than adequate.