Watch Oldboy in theaters because it’s still terrific, not just because it’s influential

polygon.com:

The 20th anniversary of Park Chan-wook’s Oldboy has brought the movie back into theaters, in a newly refurbished and remastered 4K version that’s launched plenty of online write-ups on the movie’s historical and cinematic value. Those pieces certainly aren’t wrong — the film’s 2003 release was a watershed moment for Korean cinema in the international market, and its stunningly grim and bloody one-take battle, with the protagonist fighting his way through a hallway jam-packed with mooks, has inspired endless copycats and homages, from The Raid: Redemption to Netflix’s Daredevil to The Princess and all the way up to James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

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But the real reason to check out Oldboy in its theatrical run isn’t because it’s an important part of action-movie history, or because it’s a startling and thoughtful spin on a popular manga series. It isn’t even because Oldboy currently isn’t streaming anywhere. The best reason to see it is because it’s one of the most startling and immersive action movies ever made, a film built around an unbeatable mystery and grounded in shockingly raw, frank violence. All the directors inspired by Oldboy over the years weren’t just celebrating the innovation of that memorable hallway fight, as if no one had ever thought about people fighting in a hallway before.