Remakes that Suck: Old Boy (2013)

Oldboy (remake)

  1. 104 minutes. Rated R.

Let’s get this straight right now, if you love Chan-wook Park’s original 2003 Korean film OldBoy as much as I do, you need to leave expectations at the door of the American cinema. I admit I was skeptical going into this movie. What was the need to recreate a movie that was so beautifully done just 10 years ago? This is something director Spike Lee wanted to bring to American audiences, some who would easily dismiss the original because “they don’t like reading subtitles.”  (I overheard this from an audience member while seeing the film. Sigh.)

Spike Lee had a decent underlying understanding of the original film, about a man who is locked up for twenty years without explanation in a small hotel room, forced to eat the same food with TV as his only outside contact.  He is then released with a cellphone, cash, and an impending threat if he cannot understand why he was locked up in the first place.

In this version, Joe Ducette (Josh Brolin), is a scummy drunk advertising exec with little regard for his family, especially his three year-old daughter.  On the night of his daughter’s third birthday party, which he misses because he’s out drinking, he is abducted without explanation. In the early days of his capture, he is framed for the murder of his wife. He helplessly watches the investigation unfold in the room with the knowledge that he is a wanted man regardless if he escapes. Upon his sudden unexplained release twenty years later, he meets Marie Sebastain (Elizabeth Olsen), a health care worker who believes his story and tries to help decipher clues. Lucky for Joe, the Internet became widespread since 1993, which is heavily used throughout the film to uncover clues, as well as an unlikely application of the song app Shazam.

There are many nods to the original. I was disappointed there wasn’t an American equivalent for the live octopus eating scene but an octopus tattoo on Marie’s arm and a scene with Joe staring at one in a tank in Chinatown reminds fans.  The red angel wings, the original birthday gift for his three year-old daughter, worn by a Chinatown merchant where Joe purchases a rubber ducky Buddah as a gift, was a nice touch. The ducky Buddah being a more Americanized symbol of absurdity. I thought that the “abduction” umbrella having twenty slash marks for the years was a little over the top, but all in all it was nice for Lee to recognize the original and its revered fandom. (Although the fandom is horrified over this remake, if you’ve been reading other reviews.)

Now the big scene to talk about, the epic hammer fight scene beautifully done in a single shot in the original. Lee didn’t seem to even try, going for a smoother back and forth between floors of gangs fighting like a level of the SNES game Final Fight.  It was still cringe-worthy to watch with abrupt brutal violence reminiscent of Nicholas Refn’s Drive. (Let’s face it, I knew nothing was going to live up to the original on that account.)

Lee imitated other camera shots well. The one that stood out the most was close up shots of Joe being served dumplings repeatedly both while imprisoned and moving from restaurant to restaurant upon his freedom to piece together the mystery.

This time around, you want Joe to be imprisoned because he’s a real jerk, where in the original he doesn’t seem like such a bad guy. He just drank too much and was late for his daughter’s birthday, which makes the imprisonment more infuriating and absurd. You know Joe probably deserved it, a typical sleazebag corporate guy we have seen in many Hollywood movies who probably angered a lot of people in his life to want revenge.  His transition between good and evil looses the intensity and passion of the original. The movie lacked soul.

Overall, the movie lost the dark atmosphere and superb acting of the original. Samuel L. Jackson was just being  his usual self, yelling about mother f-ing people rather than snakes this time, but who doesn’t love seeing him being angry on screen?  Josh’s transformation as a character wasn’t that bad, and the doe- eyed Elizabeth Olsen believably cares about this stranger she just met, but she’s very one dimensional. The worst acting choice was the mysterious punisher, his British accent and awkward manner just didn’t sit right with me.  He lacked the passion and symbolism behind his character.

The ending, of course, has been changed including the story behind the imprisonment. Surprisingly, not how fans would expect, either. It looses its ambiguity with things being too wrapped up for my liking but I think that’s something lost in cultural translation. After the initial shock of the reveal, perhaps American audiences needed a more Hollywood-type ending?

I came out of the movie thinking, well that was EH.  I’m not sad I watched it, it just made me want to go back and watch the original.  Much like all art, it is interesting to see someone else’s interpretation, and that’s what I came out of the movie with. Overall if you don’t mind “reading subtitles,” watch the original.

Author: Jessica

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