In addition to providing a forum for cutting edge cult and genre films from around the world, the Philadelphia Film Festival has become a nurturing home for upstart Asian filmmakers. Newcomer Park Chan-wook took audiences by storm with his debut film Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, which garnered the festival's Jury Award for Best Film in the 2003 program. The vengeance auteur returns to Danger After Dark this spring with Oldboy, a visually resplendent and discomforting revenge thriller that won the Grand Prix award at this year's Cannes festival. But is it really that good?

The middle film in Park's trilogy of vengeance, Oldboy starts out simply enough. Oh Dae-su is a contemptible lout who gets arrested for disorderly conduct on his daughter's birthday. Bailed out by a long-time friend, he is promptly abducted after a brief conversation with his wife and child at a phone booth. A befuddled Oh Dae-su awakens inside a garishly colored room to discover that he has been imprisoned by unknown forces for reasons he cannot discern. His subsequent descent into madness is stemmed by a hefty dose of television, martial arts training rituals and an unyielding commitment to escape and exact revenge upon his captors.

Just as he is about to emerge from the hole that has taken him several years to dig, Oh Dae-su abruptly finds himself freed from his fifteen year prison. The once volatile reprobate is now faced with the prospect of blending into a society in which he doesn't belong and the memory of a family he no longer knows. Fortunes quickly turn when he meets a sushi chef named Mido who inexplicably decides to nurse him back to health after a fainting spell in her restaurant. Can her companionship soothe his tortured mind and help Oh Dae-su discover why he was imprisoned and — more importantly — why he was released?

No Sympathy from Mr. Hammer

Oh Dae-su prepares to open a dialogue with those who imprisoned him. And by "dialogue", I mean this dude's head.

Oldboy plays like a typical revenge drama crossed with a standard whodunit mystery, peppered with the requisite omfg twist to cap things off. Competing in a well-stacked genre, Park's vengeance follow-up distinguishes itself with a stylish visual veneer and its inventive and arresting cinematography. The opening half hour sets a brisk pace and commands undivided attention as Oh Dae-su comes to grips with his imprisonment. His plight is brilliantly recounted with vivid colors, striking sets and exquisite editing, not to mention the infectious musical score.

Once Oh Dae-su escapes, the film quickly gets bogged down by wave after wave of less-than-stellar sleuthing scenes that derail an otherwise strong narrative. Though more restrained and accomplished than Park's freshman effort, Oldboy still manages to soil itself with some of the tomfoolery — a giant computer-generated ant riding on the subway? — that brought Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance down a peg. Scenes such as this are meant to be poignant, but often end up looking silly or out of place.

Genre veterans likely won't bat an eyelash during the twist-laden finale, though newcomers will likely be repulsed by its nauseating conclusion. The film generally succeeds in offering an emotionally taxing reflection on the nature of revenge, but the overwrought revelation of its darkest secret comes across as a bit contrived and doesn't quite feel like the payoff one would expect. This can easily be overlooked when weighed against the films' affecting narrative structure and its directors' unbridled outbursts of creativity.

The films' greatest strength lies in Park Chan-wook's astounding talent for cinematic splendor; Oldboy is downright mesmerizing to watch throughout its 120 minute running time with vibrant color palettes and dazzling camera work. Park's mastery is succinctly exemplified by a side-scrolling, continuous take of a fight sequence in a narrow corridor replete with grungy green tones. This isn't the stylized, quick-cut, shaky-cam bullshit one typically sees in marginal films searching for street cred; Oh Dae-su engages a gang of armed toughs in a punch-bite-kick street brawl that resembles the type of fight-or-flight violence you might actually see in real life. Gripping in both content and presentation.

Another brilliant setpiece sees Oh Dae-su running through an Escher-like maze of staircases and overpasses at his boyhood school. Past and present seamlessly blend as the embattled protagonist desperately tries to connect long-dry synapses and remember past misdeeds. Oldboy's impact is further elevated by the riveting performance of Choi Min-sik as Charles Bronson look-a-like Oh Dae-su, who commands attention whether mulling an internal monologue or frothing at the mouth in a fit of rage. His portrayal of a man driven to the brink of madness is captivating at the very least and draws attention away from the so-so supporting cast.

I have yet to fully embrace the Park Chan-wook bandwagon, but it's clear that the young man is a bona-fide talent with more than a few noir-ish tricks up his sleeve. Oldboy suffers from some of the same problems as Mr. Vengeance, but it works past these sore spots with heaps of eye candy and an enthralling bushy-haired lead. With expectations properly in check, Oldboy will provide plenty of bang for the buck. Check it out.

Thumbs Up. Not quite the second coming it's billed to be, Oldboy is nonetheless a visually hypnotic revenge flick with some sick secrets.