It's the sickest thing ever. I say this as someone who sat through all the films in the trilogy, and actually I like the dramatic flim-flammery, but some people say it's nothing more than an elaborate justification for hard, brutal, no-holds-barred revenge...granted...motivated by horrific, yet implausibly baroque injustices. There is a truth to that. Ever seen Kill Bill 1 or 2? Oldboy, along with the others--"Sympathy for Mr Vengeance" and "Lady Vengeance"--is in the same spirit, but with far more psychological insight.