Director : Spike Lee
Cast Headliners: Josh Brolin, Elizabeth Olsen, Sharlto Copley, Samuel L Jackson
Original Release Date: November 27th, 2013
Remake films are tricky business. It is a careful balancing act. The elements which made the original so great
have to be preserved, while also something fresh should be included to avoid it
being a simple carbon copy of its source.
The matter is made even more difficult when the source film is from
another country, like in this case of Oldboy where it was a South Korean film
originally based on a Japanese manga.
The story of Oldboy has now travelled between two mediums and three
cultures, and because of this a point of concern for this version may be that
it would turn out as a train wreck of mediocrity. I can
say, as a massive fan of Park Chan-wook’s 2003 original that it could have
turned out much worse. That’s in a “good way.”
Josh Brolin plays the protagonist Joe Doucett, an
advertising executive. His life isn’t
exactly the best with an venomous relationship with his wife and making some
mistakes in his profession. One such
mistake sets him over the edge, and he gets incredibly drunk. Now, I can say Brolin is one of the best
aspects of the movie as Joe. His
character nearly completely transforms over the course of the plot. However,
the acting during these drunken scenes felt very exaggerated. This segment dragged on for a bit too
long. The wonky dialogue reared its head
in not just this portion. It is a shame,
since it is about a halfway split between quality writing and “zany” writing. I would
also like to point out that Joe changes from a more interesting seedy character
into…. a generic angry action hero. More on that in a moment.
In many ways Oldboy can be said to be a character study
of Joe. The events of that night lead
to the main crux of the film that being the fact that he is mysteriously locked
in a hotel-like prison for 20 years with only cereal and Chinese dumplings to
eat. This part, as the original, is
incredible. Some of the finest bits of
the film come from Joe’s descent into madness. It is like a dark twisted
version of The Count of Monte Cristo, and with his attempted escape that
element comes to mind more than the original Korean film. He has literally no contact for years, which
makes this section extremely emotional. I would call it a series of great
montages. Director Spike Lee made the smart choice to not directly use the
scenes from the original, and instead create new equally dark and surreal
imagery.
His time in his prison shapes Joe into something new. He
submits to his isolation at first but soon forges himself into a strong warrior
with a mission of revenge. Soon, he is
freed. But his adventure only just started.
I did enjoy the fact that there are a few parallels and references to
the original film that I infer to be meant specifically for fans of the
original. For example, to say one,
there is no “octopus scene” here, but there is an octopus. There are also some scenes omitted or occasionally
reworked to negative effect. One action sequence copied from the original is
the “hammer fight”. But where that fight took place in a single hallway and was
beautifully shot in real time, a cinematic achievement, this version uses many
special effects and takes place across a few floors of the facility where Joe
breaks into. It feels very much like
the blockbuster “America” version, and this is not the only other time where
this takes place.
However, some other changes enhance the film over its
source. There are additions to the narrative which show how certain things
happened or how people got to places. It
would also take much to explain, but the motivation of the villain receives
some changes (once again with an element of American larger-than-life exaggeration)
which actually make it interesting in its own way. I will say that Sharlto Copley is great as
always in his villain role, and also Samuel L Jackson gives a classic SLJ
villian performance as well. His use of his
favorite “m word” is appropriate given the dark and gritty style of the
film. I also think Joe’s soon-ally Marie
(Elizabeth Olsen) gets more depth to her than the Korean version. She is a compassion contrasted to Joe’s brute
force. Ironic that where Marie has a
bit more to here, Joe is largely just an angry, though this is what Brolin does
best, guy with a grudge.
There are issues with some of the translation of scenes,
and objectively with some of the pacing and dialogue. But these are
complimented with a great dark tone, a twisting narrative every bit as engaging
as the original, and some bloody action.
A word to describe it would be crazy.
Sometimes, it’s a bit too all over the place. There were times when the tone jumped from
pure black to black comedy; perhaps a trademark of Spike Lee but this isn’t
always the place for it. I also want to
mention that where the original had some deep moral messages and
introspections, this version eschews that mostly. It’s become a straightforward
thriller but is worth it for Josh Brolin , the action, and those plot elements
which still carry through. In my
opinion, far from bad if a bit flawed. 7.45 out of 10
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