In the early ’00s, Park Chan-wook was obsessed with the theme of revenge, and delivered three searing films on the topic. Of the three, Oldboy is arguably the most celebrated and accomplished, delivering a nigh-Shakespearean epic about the depravities to which vengeance can drive a person.

When a lowly businessman is kidnapped and imprisoned and then, after 15 years of solitary confinement, suddenly released, he goes on a rampage to find those responsible. Oldboy is definitely not for the squeamish, and not just because lead actor Choi Min-sik consumes a live octopus in one scene. But the film — which is loosely based on Garon Tsuchiya and Nobuaki Minegishi’s manga — delivers its twisted and twisting storyline with style and panache, while Choi gives a harrowing performance as a man reduced to near-bestial instinct by his imprisonment.

Nowhere is this more clearly seen than a corridor fight sequence shot in one take in which Choi’s character takes on wave after wave of thugs. It’s a brilliantly executed scene that starts off thrilling, and only gets more brutal as it unfolds.