You lock up a man for 10 years, then release him all of a sudden, then play a psychological game with him to screw up his head as he tries to understand why this happened to him sums up Old Boy in a nutshell.

Boy, this manga was enjoyable. I had seen the critically acclaimed Korean live adaptation a year before reading this. What the manga excels at is character development, the dark and detailed artwork, the gradual build-up of suspense (which kinda felt similar to Naoki Urasawa's story telling style).

What the manga lacked was a better ending. The main reasons for the antagonist's motivations seemed too weak to justify his actions. This is where the movie surpasses the manga.

For me, the movie was much better than the manga, but even then I would recommend this one for people who like a nice thriller, action and psychological series with great art.