First Reaction to Spike Lee's OLDBOY Remake
As much as I don't like the idea of Chan-wook Park's Oldboy being remade by Spike Lee, I'm still interested in it and curious to see how it turns out. It's got an incredible cast of actors that includeJosh Brolin, Elizabeth Olsen, Sharlto Copley, and Samuel L. Jackson. We've been hearing that it's going to be even more dark and twisted than the original, which is hard to imagine. If you are curious to know what's in store for us, a review has hit the net that was posted on JoBlo. It discusses the performances in the film, the classic hallway fight sequence, the changes in the story, and the ending.
Just a warning there are SPOILERS here, but it sounds like this could be a solidly good remake. The person that sent in the review gave it an 8 out of 10, which isn't bad. I'm actually even more excited to see the movie after having read this review. Check it out!
On Brolin's performance:
Brolin’s performance as Joe (Oh dae-su from the original), in my opinion, can be paralleled to the anti-heroics of Walter White in Breaking Bad: you feel for him, you root for him, but that does not make him a good guy. The exposition of Joe in the beginning of the film does a bit of show and a bit of tell and does the right job of showing how much of a dirtbag he is. That way, when he gets abducted and imprisoned, you say to yourself, “the dick deserves it.” This version follows Joe a little more closely during his captivity (which is for twenty years, rather than the original’s fifteen). Brolin is at his best here as your heart breaks for him and you want desperately for his mental torture and anguish to be over.
On Copley's performance:
When he came on screen, I couldn’t even recognize him. He honestly blew me away with how good he was. You can tell that he’s having a great time playing a bad guy and loves to be the cat toying with a mouse right before he eats it. He comes across as someone who has immense pity for Joe while taking satisfaction from watching him squirm.
On Olsen's performance:
While both her and Copely are in supporting roles, Copely clearly got the meatier part and owns it better. I was a fan of Olsen’s performance, and she gave the character a good amount of depth, she didn’t blow me away nearly as much as Copely or Brolin did. However, I will say that it left me wanting more and I wish that she was given more to her backstory.
On the violence and similarities to the original:
Don’t worry, this is going to be rated R. Much like the original, acts two and three are very sadistic and “wrong.” The violence hasn’t been downplayed even a little bit as its just as sick and twisted as the original. If I had to summarize the violence in three words, they would bloody, gratuitous and hammer.
On the infamous "hallway" fight:
While they are basically the same across both versions, they do have some similarities. Rather than a fight down a long hallway, Joe is tasked with fighting guys down hallways across three floors. Some people in the screening found issue with this, but personally, I loved it. It was ridiculous and over the top in all the best ways. Would it hurt to have it trimmed? No. Would it be the end of the world to leave it as is? Absolutely not.
On the integrity of the ending:
The ending is even more incestuous than the original. The “big twist?” Still in there as is. However, the villain’s character…let’s just say the best thing about incest is that it’s the game the whole family can play! The last few minutes differ greatly from the Korean film in a way that I feel fits this version very well. I don’t want to give away too much, but to me, it almost makes more sense than the original’s ending.
Final thoughts:
Overall, I really enjoyed the movie and I can’t wait to see the final version of it in theatres. Even after seeing the original, I could say that I like them equally as much. The acting, story, and action all outweigh the negatives of the film, which can (and hopefully will be) fixed up before the final cut‘s release. I’ll give it an 8/10. And, as a quick note, the film was presented without a title, so we might have to start referring to it as something else sometime soon.
Head on over to JoBlo to read the full review, which also discusses Spike Lee's direction, and the changes, pacing, and cuts.