Old Boy
Joe Doucett (Josh Brolin) is a marketing salesman, but his drinking and roving eye causes him to lose deals. He's estranged from his wife, and misses his daughter's 3rd birthday party. He buys a toy duck from a street vendor, then disappears.Joe wakes up in a small room, where he is fed (primarily Chinese food) and provided for, but denied human contact. During his incarceration, forensic evidence is lifted from him and planted on the crime scene of his wife's murder. He makes friends with a mouse, only to have it served to him for his next meal. He's watched on camera by Chaney (Samuel L. Jackson), and has hallucinations about him. Joe is allowed to watch television, and he sees a story about his daughter, 8 years old, and tries to better himself in his cell.After 20 years, Joe makes plans to escape, but is suddenly gassed and released. He wakes up with a cell phone with his daughter's picture and a countdown timer. He sees the street vendor who sold him the duck (or so he thinks) and chases after her, using his new physical fitness to beat up a football team. He meets Marie (Elizabeth Olsen), a nurse who senses there's something wrong with him, but he won't open up her. She gives him her card.He returns to his friend Chucky (Michael Imperioli)'s bar and tells his story. He's then called by an anonymous man, who says Joe can earn forgiveness. Joe starts researching all the people he's wronged to see if he can find his captor. When Joe passes out again, Chucky find's Marie's number, and she comes over to help. She finds a stack of letters Joe has written to his daughter Mia, and agrees to help him. Joe starts sampling Chinese food at area restaurants, trying to find the same dumplings he lived on for years. In one restaurant, he sees a man picking up a large order and follows him. He finds Chaney and tortures him, only to find out he's only the caretaker of a facility that tortures many people. Joe fights off numerous guards and passes out from his wounds, only to be rescued by a mysterious stranger who drops him back at Chucky's.Joe recovers and finally meets the stranger Adrian (Sharlto Copley), who gives him proof of his involvement of his wife's murder. Adrian challenges Joe to find out who he is and why Joe was imprisoned, then leads him to Marie's house, where he's captured by Chaney. Before Chaney can start torturing him, Adrian pays him off. Adrian is seen watching Marie's house and she and Joe make plans.Joe and Marie track down Edwina Burke (Linda Emond), the headmistress of Joe's old prep school. While Marie distracts her, Joe finds Adrian's name in a yearbook. Chucky finds out something about Adrian's sister, but Adrian intercepts his message to Joe and kills Chucky. Joe and Marie make love, and Adrian watches.Joe and Marie break into the prep school and Joe begins to remember - Adrian's sister was caught having sex with her father, and the family was involved in a tragedy years later.Joe confronts Adrian and tells him what he knows. Adrian explains that their father was a pedophile who killed his own family (Adrian was wounded instead). He takes Joe to see Mia, and Joe sees that much of what he saw on TV during his imprisonment was faked. Joe realizes Mia is actually Marie; Adrian raised her as Mia to torture him!Adrian kills himself. Joe uses Adrian's money to try and make things right - with Marie/Mia and even Chaney, arranging to be re-imprisoned. End.
revenge, neo noir, murder, violence, flashback