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Oldboy Review

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Chan Wook-Park's 2003 South Korean cult film Oldboy is deservedly considered a classic. An unapologetically dark and twisted mystery, it is a wonderfully put together film, brimming with invention. Spike Lee's Americanised remake is not. American remakes of foreign movies do have a lot of potential, mainly down to the switches in culture offering new takes and twists to the story. This remake, unfortunately, wastes all that, serving up a pale imitator that is further hurt by a weak structure and a story held together by contrivances.


The basic story remains the same: Joe Doucett (Josh Brolin), a drunk and downright jerk, finds himself imprisoned in an isolated hotel room for twenty years, framed with the rape and murder of his wife. Driven by thoughts of reuniting with his daughter, who was put up for adoption, he spends his days honing his body for his planned escape and revenge. One day, he is inexplicably released, and with the help of Marie (Elizabeth Olsen), a clinic worker he meets by chance, Joe sets out to discover who imprisoned him and why, taunted every step of the way by the very person he seeks (Sharlto Copely). Even though it offers subtle changes to the narrative, they ultimately fall flat. It becomes evident pretty early on the Lee's vision for the story pales in comparison to Wook-Park's (though I have to hand to him for keeping the same level of brutality), the whole affair descending into rehashes of the originals scenes. The infamous hammer fight is the biggest offender. Don't get me wrong, it's a wonderful scene, and one of the very few moments that made me sit up on take notice. It just feels tacked on, because that's what everybody remembers from the Korean version. Changes to the villain's motivations don't work either. Before he was an almost tragic figure, now he is just another nut case. The movie surprised me by keeping the final twist in tact, but then goes onto sugarcoat the final scenes, lacking the courage to go as dark as the original, and delivering the closest thing to a happy ending that a story like Oldboy's can muster.

So, we've established that as a remake, this version of Oldboy falls flat. But does it work as a movie in it's own right? That answer is no. The whole structure is weak, scenes just following each other with no rhyme or reason. The mystery behind Joe's imprisonment isn't compelling enough, and a lot of what happens just feels contrived, again a victim of "that's how it happened in the original". Josh Brolin does put in a  good performance, cutting an imposing figure as Joe. He's not a nice guy to begin with, but you feel yourself warming to him after watching the hell he goes through in the first act, and Brolin carries that over once he is released. Sharlto Copely, usually a solid addition to any movie, puts in probably his first ever bad performance in my opinion. Saddled with a bad and unconvincing English accent, he comes across as very flat to begin with, then gets more over the top with each appearance, negating any menace he should have as the villain. Elisabeth Olsen is fine, but her role doesn't add up to much. Same goes for goes Samuel L Jackson, who plays the warden of Joe's prison in his usual style. Not that we can complain, because he is endlessly entertaining.

Burdened with weak storytelling, this was a waste of time bringing Oldboy to a wider audience. Best avoided, this is everything the original isn't.





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The Movie Bit: Oldboy Review
Oldboy Review
Read our take on Spike Lee's Oldboy remake here!
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