Oh Dae-su (Choi Min-sik) is kidnapped at the beginning of the movie and framed for the murder of his wife, and isn't released from his captivity until 15 years later. Dae-su's methods of revenge are undeniably savage and indicate a certain level of madness, with his use of a hammer proving particularly disturbingly. At the end of the movie, it turns out that Dae-su inadvertently caused the suicide of his captor Woo-jin's (Yoo Ji-tae) sister many years prior, and his means of revenge is to reveal that young sushi chef Mi-do (Kang Hye-jung), who Dae-su has been having sex with, is in fact his daughter. Dae-su cuts his tongue off in frenzied disgrace, and after Woo-jin kills himself, Dae-su decides to have himself hypnotised in order to forget his incestuous actions. He then meets up with Mi-do again, but Dae-su's anguished facial expression suggests he may still on some level remember the truth. Much like Leonard Shelby's final act, the whole "ignorance is bliss" approach here really casts a dark cloud over Dae-su's otherwise understandable thirst for vengeance. He's crazy, violent and unpredictable, but given his imprisonment, it's easy to feel sympathetic for the guy, especially when he finds out he's been banging his daughter, while the guy responsible has already ended his own life. Dae-su is robbed of a final act of revenge and then has to possibly live with the vile truth of his relationship for the rest of his life. Do heroes get any more tragic and far-flung from the norm?
Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes).
General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.
