You'll love Oldboy if...

Oldboy (2003)
I watched this film over the weekend and it has been cycling through my cerebral cortex ever sense. This South Korean revenge tale won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 2003. Oldboy tells the story of an everyday man who is kidnapped and kept in a strange apartment prison for 15 years, only to be suddenly released to find that his wife has died and his daughter has been shipped away to Sweden.

All he wants is to learn the truth about who was responsible for his imprisonment and why. Then, he'll have his vengeance. Fast-moving and, at times, brutal, this story takes you places you never thought you would go. I highly recommend it.

I know you'll love Oldboy if you liked:

Payback (1999)
Porter is a criminal, but even criminals have a code. Betrayed and left for dead by his best friend and ex-wife, Porter survives with just one thing on his mind, payback...and his share of the loot. His road to revenge will reunite him with old friends and enemies.

This is easily one of Gibson's darkest roles. He is quick to anger and doesn't hesitate to do whatever it takes to get what he wants. Unfortunately, he is dealing with equally brutal men. Bonus points: check out the director's cut.

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)
An innocent man is sent away on false accusations. He returns years later, to learn that his wife has been killed, and his daughter has been adopted by the man responsible. Aided by his landlady, he establishes a barbershop as the front for his bloody campaign of revenge.

This is a dark and violent story about the emptiness of revenge and the loss of a man's soul. Still, its black comedy makes it somehow an enjoyable viewing.

Memento (2000)
After my first few weeks of film school at the University of Texas, I became frustrated. We'd been shown so many of the great films, and I found feeling that every story had already been told. Surely there were no new ideas left for us to try.

A few weeks later I saw Memento in the Dobie Theater, and it shut me right up. This is one of the most original films I have ever seen. It takes a familiar revenge story and turns it...no, slams it on its head.

Memento tells the story of a man named Leonard who survives a home invasion in which his wife died but is left with a brain injury that prevents him from creating new long-term memories. This essentially means that every few minutes, his mind resets. He suddenly does not recognize the people he is talking to. Nor does he know where he is or what he is doing. How, with such a great impediment, can he possibly track down his wife's killer? His answer: with the aid of some amazing tattoos, he turns his body into a road map of revenge. Along with Polaroids and handwritten notes, he uses the tattoos to remind himself who he is and what his mission is.

The story is made insanely engaging by its rejection of traditional chronology. The story is told from the outside in, moving simultaneously forward from its beginning and backwards from its end, to leave the audience almost as confused as its protagonist. I adore this film and cannot recommend it enough.