Oldboy (2013) Review

Rated R (Strong Brutal Violence, Disturbing Images, Some Graphic Sexuality and Nudity, and Language)

Running Time: 1 Hour & 44 Minutes

Cast-

Josh Brolin-Joe Doucett

Elizabeth Olsen-Marie Sebastian

Sharlto Copley-Adrian Pryce

Michael Imperioli-Chucky

Samuel L. Jackson-Chaney

Pom Klementieff-Haeng-Bok

James Ransone-Dr. Tom Melby

Max Casella-James Prestley

Linda Emond-Edwina Burke

Lance Reddick-Daniel Newcombe

Hannah Ware-Donna Hawthorne

Richard Portnow-Bernie Sharkey

Hannah Simone-Stephanie Lee

Lizzy DeClement-Amanda Pryce

Elvy Yost-Mia

Directed by Spike Lee

Hammer time.

Note: Screened on Monday, November 11, 2013 at AMC Loews Lincoln Square 13 (Red Carpet Premiere).

The quickest and easiest way to offend a hardcore cinephile is to utter the word 'remake' in front of them. Of course, not every remake is created equally; some have even managed to transcend their source material and provide a richer viewing experience but the label continues to have a negative connotation among moviegoers. Just look at the IMDb rating for Spike Lee's "Oldboy." It currently stands at a low 4.5 and is apparently worse than "Grown Ups 2." Whether "Oldboy" actually deserves that score is irrelevant because I guarantee you that many of the users on that site are deliberately down-voting Lee's film solely for the fact that it's a 'remake.' I bet some of them haven't even bothered to see it yet. That being said, I do admit that I wasn't very receptive to the idea of remaking "Oldboy." The second installment in the informal "Vengeance Trilogy" from South Korean auteur Park Chan-Wook (who made his English-language debut earlier this year with the little-seen but brilliant "Stoker"), the original "Oldboy" was released back in 2003 and is loosely based on the 1996 Japanese manga of the same name from Garon Tsuchiya and Nobuaki Minegishi. A baroque masterpiece, this intensely violent revenge thriller is certainly not for the faint of heart as it explores the darkest depths of the human soul while two men hell-bent on retribution apocalyptically clash. Given the film's taboo themes, the idea of a remake for American audiences not only seemed pointless but counterproductive considering our country's puritanical reaction toward sex in film. With all the trouble it took to get to the big screen, I was expecting the worse when I finally sat down to watch Spike Lee's "Oldboy" but to my surprise, it's actually pretty decent. While the often-controversial director is clearly slumming in genre territory here, Lee's stylish remake retains the raw emotional power of Wook's film and the perverse material is fortunately not watered down but for all that it manages to gets right, "Oldboy" just seems too afraid to step out of the shadow of the original.

An alcoholic deadbeat dad and all-around sleazebag, advertising executive Joe Doucett (Josh Brolin) finds himself drugged and kidnapped while wandering the streets one night in a drunken stupor. He wakes up in a dingy, windowless hotel room and learns from a news report on television that he's the primary suspect in the brutal rape and murder of his ex-wife. Desperate to reunite with his three-year-old daughter Mia and clear his name, Joe tries to escape but to no avail. Fed a constant supply of vodka and Chinese dumplings from an opening at the bottom of the door, Joe remains in solitary confinement for twenty years. While he is held in captivity, he decides to quit drinking and creates a long list of everyone he has wronged, as well as putting himself through an intense training regimen. In a series of letters, Joes pours his heart out to Mia and begins planning an escape attempt. However, he is suddenly set free before he can enact it, waking up inside a trunk in the middle of a grassy field. Joe rushes to see his old bartender friend Chucky (Michael Imperioli) and reveals his twenty year imprisonment to him. Setting out to seek revenge against those who kidnapped him, Joe runs into Marie Sebastian (Elizabeth Olsen), a clinician's assistant who takes pity on him and decides to help in his search for answers. The two eventually work their way up to a wealthy stranger named Adrian Pryce (Sharlto Copley), who not only wants Joe to find him but also to figure out why he was locked away in the first place.

The idea of an "Oldboy" remake stretches back to 2006, when Justin Lin revealed in an interview that he was interested in directing but wasn't ready to sign on until he was sure that Universal would not water down the ending from the original film. At the time, Lin was shooting the third installment in the "Fast and Furious" franchise, a series that would occupy the next seven years of his career. By 2007, Lin seemed less enthused about the project and admitted that he would 'probably move on,' which he did. A year later, it was reported that DreamWorks was in the process of securing the rights to the remake, with director Steven Spielberg and megastar Will Smith expressing interest. The film would directly adapt the Japanese manga, which departs from Park Chan-Wook's version in significant ways. However, legal issues led to the whole project being declared dead in 2009. Fans breathed a collective sigh of relief…until a sudden announcement in 2011 revealed that the remake was back on and would use the original film as its source of inspiration. I have to wonder if anyone involved in this decision asked, 'Why even bother with it?' In fact, this same question repeatedly popped up during the panel at this year's New York Comic Con. Writer Mark Protosevich seemed to be at a loss and ultimately just threw in the towel by saying that he wasn't here to force anyone to see it if they didn't want to. Spike Lee's name on the poster gave me some hope. His voice had a bluntness that other directors lacked so if anyone was going to bring something new to the table, it would be him.

Yea, I was wrong. Lee's "Oldboy" isn't as bad as most critics are making it out to be but the whole affair just seems redundant, as if he and Protosevich were afraid of deviating from the original too much. One of the more noticeable changes in the remake is that we get a fuller backstory of who Oh Dae-Su/Joe Doucett was before he gets drugged and kidnapped. When we first meet Joe, he's yelling at his ex-wife on the phone and later, makes a sleazy pass at his client's girlfriend. He is, by all accounts, a total asshole. The details of his imprisonment remain largely the same, with the length of time Joe spends in confinement increased from fifteen to twenty, but it's here that Lee's "Oldboy" strikes its biggest emotional chord, finding our main character devolving into a pitiful shaggy mess before transforming into a honed weapon of revenge. Unfortunately, the film is almost half-over by the time he's set free, forcing Lee to barrel through the story in a rush. The romance between Joe and Marie is one area that the remake seriously bungles. They meet by chance like in the original but Protosevich's script never provides Marie with a compelling reason why she's drawn to Joe other than the fact that she feels sorry for him. The lyrical weirdness that permeated Wook's film is also absent here, replaced with a more straight-forward, thriller-like tone in order to appeal to a mainstream western audience. The only time it recaptures the original's strangeness is when Joe hallucinates a bellhop laughing at him. I am glad that Lee chose to replicate the iconic, one-take hallway fight and even though he does absolutely nothing new with it besides make it longer, the scene is still highly engrossing and just plain awesome to watch. However, this exposes a problem that repeatedly crops up in this remake: it's unable to step out of the original's shadow, especially with the constant callbacks like the octopus in the fish tank.

The bulk of the differences lie in the film's climax and the ending has been completely rewritten by Protosevich. The perverse twist—given a few slight tweaks—still packs a shocking punch, even if I saw it coming already but the final minutes of Lee's "Oldboy" just doesn't work and even goes against its themes in an attempt to provide some sort of redemption for Joe. In Wook's film, Oh Dae-Su is accused by his mysterious captor of 'talking too much' and there's a sense of poetic justice to the bodily mutilation he commits at the end. The last scene was also rather ambiguous as to the fates of its characters but it hinted at a bleak outcome. Sadly, all that has been stripped away, replaced with a manufactured finale that wants the audience to leave with an implausible sense of hope. Honestly, it feels like a cop-out that was mandated by the studio. In spite of all these problems, Lee's "Oldboy" remains a compelling film. The material has an irresistible rawness to it, a grimly violent edge that's absent in many Hollywood films today and people who haven't seen or heard of the original will likely come away impressed.

Definitely the strongest aspect in this remake is the performances. Josh Brolin's transformation from an alcoholic, selfish prick to a disciplined weapon of revenge is utterly believable. Not only does Brolin capture the gamut of emotions that Joe experiences but he also has the physicality to pull off the violent action scenes, although it should be said that besides losing weight and shaving his hair, the actor doesn't physically age at all despite his character being imprisoned for two full decades. Still, it's a minor nitpick that's quickly forgotten thanks to Brolin's intense commitment to the role. Without his talent, much of the film's emotional power would've been lost. Elizabeth Olsen grounds the picture with an empathic supporting turn as Marie, even though her character feels shoehorned in by the script. Samuel L. Jackson and Sharlto Copley give wildly over-the-top performances, which might turn off some viewers. With his garish wardrobe and faux-mohawk, Jackson lives up to his on-screen reputation, delivering one expletive-filled rant after another while Copley is suitably creepy, sporting an odd, effeminate British accent as the mysterious Adrian Pryce. Rounding out the cast is Michael Imperioli as Joe's best friend Chucky, James Ransone as a doctor who works with Marie, and Pom Klementieff as Pryce's silent bodyguard Haeng-Bok.

Released on November 27, 2013, "Oldboy" has received largely mixed reviews with 43% on Rotten Tomatoes. Critics found it 'suitably grim and bloody yet disappointingly safe and shallow, Spike Lee's…remake neither surpasses the original nor adds anything new to its impressive legacy.' It doesn't seem like FilmDistrict was all that confident about the film because it's being dumped into 583 theaters with little fanfare. So far, it's only grossed $212,826 and will likely disappear by the time Christmas rolls around. It just feels like a waste considering the time it took for the remake to reach the big screen. No, Spike Lee's "Oldboy" isn't the cinematic abomination that some were expecting it to be and makes for a decent watch yet the whole endeavor never fully justifies itself. Newcomers and those who have an aversion to subtitles will likely be impressed, which might inspire them to seek out the original on their own but the rest of us will be asking the same question that pops up for every remake: 'Why bother?'

Final Rating: 3 out of 5

"If you would like to see your daughter alive again, you must answer me two questions. One: Why did I imprison you for twenty years? And two: Why did I let you go?"