Oldboy (2013)
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Critics Consensus: Suitably grim and bloody yet disappointingly safe and shallow, Spike Lee's Oldboy remake neither surpasses the original nor adds anything new to its impressive legacy.
Critics Consensus: Suitably grim and bloody yet disappointingly safe and shallow, Spike Lee's Oldboy remake neither surpasses the original nor adds anything new to its impressive legacy.
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Movie Info
OLDBOY is a provocative, visceral thriller that follows the story of Joe Doucette, a man who is abruptly kidnapped and held hostage for 20 years in solitary confinement, for no apparent reason. When he is suddenly released without explanation, he begins an obsessive mission to find out who imprisoned him, only to discover that the real mystery is why he was set free. Co-starring Elizabeth Olsen and Sharlto Copley, OLDBOY was directed by Spike Lee, from a script by Mark Protosevich (I Am Legend, … More- Rating:
- R (for strong brutal violence, disturbing images, some graphic sexuality and nudity, and language)
- Genre:
- Drama , Action & Adventure , Mystery & Suspense
- Directed By:
- Spike Lee
- In Theaters:
- Nov 27, 2013 Wide
- On DVD:
- Mar 4, 2014
- US Box Office:
- $2.2M
Cast
-
Josh Brolin
as Joe Doucett -
Elizabeth Olsen
as Marie Sebastian -
Sharlto Copley
as Adrian/The Stranger -
James Ransone
as Dr. Tom Melby -
Samuel L. Jackson
as Chaney -
Michael Imperioli
as Chucky
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LoginCritic Reviews for Oldboy
All Critics (136) | Top Critics (40) | Fresh (57) | Rotten (79) | DVD (1)
Everything is wrong with [Spike] Lee's version of Park Chan-wook's notorious, super-violent super-action-thriller. For one thing, it's far from super. Not the quality, per se (although, for Lee, that's off, too), but the energy.
Why would we want to watch a chronicle of Joe's agonies, and the agonies he gets to inflict on others? Passing it up would be the best revenge.
Hollywood's wildest cinematic freakout since "Shutter Island" is a remake of-and an improvement on-the Korean original, from 2003.
A vivid yet academic remake, this Oldboy is shorter, leaner and lesser.
Sometimes I don't understand the Hollywood mindset. Who thought remaking Park Chan-wook's 2003 cult classic, Oldboy, was a good idea?
Much of the dialogue is stilted (several scene are laughable) and the melodrama feels unmoored without the lurid, baroque atmosphere of Park's film -- which, after all, was kind of the whole point.
Lee takes his time crafting fiery characters and an impenetrable, who-and-why mystery only to rush through a series of arbitrary clues and explanations.
For a "pointless" and "unnecessary" remake, there's actually some really solid stuff in this one.
Sloppy when taken on its own and abhorrent when compared to its predecessor.
Park Chan-wook's movie was a delirious nightmare whose ideas and images stuck like burrs in the mind. Lee's remake is all too forgettable.
Maybe the giant leaps of faith that the original script calls for were easier to swallow 10 years ago, or perhaps it's just that Lee's version seems to mannered to be convincing.
It's not that Spike Lee's attempt at a remake is particularly bad, though it does have a few issues, it's just that it's an entirely unnecessary one.
...we have a mediocre remake being released on Blu-ray and the extras are better than the film itself.
The blu-ray's features suggest that Lee made a better film than what was released theatrically
Visceral thrills and athletic camerawork seem only to bring out the actors' limitations.
In a film where the hero is constantly asking questions about his predicament, the audience may be left with the most important one of all: why?
Hard-hearted and ostentatiously nasty, the most stylish thing Spike Lee has been involved with for years.
Spike Lee reworks a cult classic
The result is engaging enough for those not familiar with the first film, yet it lacks the freshness of the original concept despite some clever plot twists and moments of visual flair.
[Lee] moves easily among the several registers of filmmaking that Oldboy demands.
Spike Lee's remake of 2003's Oldboy is as brutally perplexing as the South Korean original, and needless for both its repetition and tweaks. Nothing is really lost in translation, or gained.
The martial arts sequences are a joy to watch and, when taken as it's own entity, this "Old Boy" feels like it should hit it's intended audience favorably.
Fans of the cult classic "Old Boy" may have mixed feelings on this new version (or even wonder why it was remade at all), but standing on it's on "Old Boy" is a different type of revenge flick that works just well enough to be fresh.
Viewers new to Oldboy will appreciate Lee's affecting and entertaining tale of a man unjustly imprisoned. Fans of Park's film-and there are many wildly loyal ones-will likely be far less impressed.
Other than catering to an audience unwilling to read subtitles, it's hard to see what Spike Lee has brought to the table ...
Audience Reviews for Oldboy
When an Asian film such as the original Oldboy gains popularity on a global scale, the Hollywood remake is inevitable. Why make films for the lazy people who can't be bothered to read subtitles? If a film has a good story but doesn't reach full potential then sure, remake away but when it is recognised as a modern classic you leave it alone. To hear that Spike Lee was behind the remake was the real surprise. The fact that it wasn't going to be one of his 'Joints' but merely a 'film' didn't exactly get anyone's hopes up either. We are all agreed that this remake was a needless one but I would argue that it is a good one. The changes are slight but for my money it is still pretty entertaining and the differences are interesting enough to keep me entertained throughout. Of all the Asian films made into Western movies, this was the one that shouldn't have worked but somehow it does. 99 Luftballons' by Nena is a great song, a party classic but so is 99 Red Balloons.
http://cinephilecrocodile.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/oldboy-dir-spike-lee-2013-when-asian.html
Super Reviewer
An intensely riveting and mind-blowing first-rate edge of your seat thriller. A truly serious knockout of a thrill-machine. It hits you harder than a punch, but like a sledge-hammer to the gut and even then it's still not finished with you. A wickedly entertaining and viciously compelling ride that is truly a must-see. It's provocative, stylish and pulse-pounding every step of the way. A brilliant and darkly poetic re-interpretation to the classic Korean picture. A heart-piercing and mind-shattering masterpiece. Director, Spike Lee crafts one of his best films in years, he takes an entirely different direction and shows great tribute to the original but makes his own film entirely that is nearly more shocking and satisfying. A bold, bloody and brilliant movie. It's awesome and sadistically spectacular. A blistering, action-packed and compelling. It totally grabs you. Josh Brolin is sensational, he gives one of his best performances. Sharlto Copley is outstanding, he is perfectly menacing. It keeps your heart racing with non-stop suspense and brings a devastatingly dark twist at the end but has it in a strangely satisfying way. An unforgettable classic revenge tale.
MoreSuper Reviewer
Park Chan Wook's 2004 Korean original of "Oldboy" is one of the most visceral and emotionally devastating thrillers that you're ever likely to find. As a result, it totally baffled me when I heard about the intentions for an English language remake. I don't care how much of an impressive cast or crew were assembled, as far as I see it, there really isn't anything else that could have been brought to treading this ground again. Now that I've seen Spike Lee's version, I stand by that even more. This was a completely pointless exercise.
Estranged husband and father Joe Doucett (Josh Brolin) is on a downward spiral with his alcohol problem. One drunken night he's kidnapped from the streets and wakes up in a locked room with no windows and no means of communication. He's held here without explanation, while on the outside he's framed for the murder of his ex-wife. After 20 years in this locked room, heā??s suddenly released and sets about finding out the truth and why he was held in the the first place.
I'll start with the (very few) positives this film has to offer and that simply comes down to Josh Brolin and Elizabeth Olsen. They are both on particularly fine form and give this misguided endeavour more than it actually deserves. The same can't be said for the villains of the piece, though. Normally, the nasties are the one's that stand out in a film of this type but in this case, it's them that suffer the most in their caricature roles; Jackson is his usual, reliable self and (with that idiosyncratic tone of his) can make even the worst of dialogue work for him. He adds a requisite sprinkle of menace but he's so elaborately overdressed that he looks like he's just there to do a little turn on the catwalk. Copley, on the other hand, I feel both sorry and embarrassed for. He's even more ridiculous. His accent and histrionics are so laughably bad and completely misplaced that he looks like he's wandered in from a child's pantomime. The only thing missing was an audience taking great delight in booing or hissing him off the stage. If Copley doesn't get his act together soon, he'll fade into obscurity and his wonderful work in "District 9" will be a thing of the past.
The film itself looks the part, though, and Spike Lee almost gives the impression that he knows what he's doing by capturing a suitably grim and foreboding atmosphere. However, it's ultimately the script that lets everyone down here. It's practically a scene-for-scene remake of the original (well, the good bits at least) but the changes that they do make to the story don't improve it in the slightest. It really is perplexing why they would've even went to the bother and why such an acclaimed director and cast would put their reputations at stake.
The scene that stood out for me was the ridiculous hallway fight (where Lee is obviously trying to emulate Park's impressive handling of a similar one-take scene from the original). Here, Brolin takes on an abundance of adversaries and it's obvious how badly choreographed it is. His opponents are absolutely nowhere near him as they swipe the air with pieces of plywood while our man sets about them with his claw hammer. It's was around this point that I gave up on the whole affair, as it was apparent that the filmmakers were putting as much of an effort into the film as I am this review.
With almost ten years between them, I can only assume that Hollywood thought that this was ripe for a remake. It's not! Granted, it might work a lot better for those that are unfamiliar with the original but for others, it's pretty much a guarantee that it won't. If it does appeal to those that are already versed in Park's sublime original, then I'll eat my claw hammer with a live Octopi chaser.
Mark Walker
Super Reviewer
An inferior remake of a cult classic film, Spike Lee's new version of Oldboy suffers from uneven performances and a lack of direction. I felt like the film was meandering around. Spike Lee threw everything at this to see if it would stick, and while some of it does, other parts do not. The action is terrible. The infamous scene from the original was the fight in the hallways and it is reduced to a comically bad scene where all of the bad guys don't move at all and Josh Brolin gets to them one by one. I did like Elizabeth Olsen in this, but Josh Brolin I felt was miscast. This doesn't pack the punch the original did, but it can be fairly entertaining in a so bad it is good kind of way. I was entertained, but certainly not engaged or thrilled. Go watch the superior foreign film, unless you really like Elizabeth Olsen and want to see the goods.
MoreSuper Reviewer
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