This film had one of the most promising and intriguing premises I had heard of in a long time. Oh Dae-su is abducted and held captive in what appears to be a hotel room for fifteen years. He believes he has been denounced and is being imprisoned by the government, but there are no charges and there is no trial. He learns that he has been accused of murdering his wife and that his daughter has been placed with foster parents. Dae-su tries to escape and succeeds in digging through the wall to the outside. Just before he is to flee, however, he is released and given a suit, money, and a cell phone. The man thus embarks on a journey to seek revenge, not knowing that he was incarcerated as part of a plan for revenge himself.
Chan-Wook Park’s movie is beautiful, intricate, and well-written, accessible to Western audiences. The captive’s return to society and his quest for vengeance sets up a remarkable ending in terms of complexity and astonishment. The truth of Dae-su’s captivity and the reasons for it were creative, but the endgame of the plot against him is shocking. The final scene is appropriately ambiguous, leaving us to wonder how we would deal with such revelations.
3.5/5
Brian's Film Log 
Why only 3.5? The whole thing moved a little slowly for me, and it was cheesy at points, but dude eats a live octopus… that’s worth a 4 in and of itself. This was pretty awesome, glad someone told me about it, great ending