It seems all I hear about this remake is negative reviews. I’m not sure what it is about Spike Lee’s rendition of Oldboy that people dislike so much, but I rather enjoyed it.
While Spike Lee managed to include some nods to the original 2003 film of the same name, he was still able to execute a story that seemed remarkably original. Any of the readers out there that have read my reviews before know by now that I have terrible memory when it comes to recalling films I’ve seen in the past. It is no different this time around; Though I remember bits and pieces of Chan-wook Park’s version, I do think Lee’s was a much more twisted tale.
Josh Brolin plays Joe Doucett, an alcoholic who gets kidnapped and framed for the rape and murder of his wife. After being locked inside of the same room for 20 years, he is finally set free. It is now up to him to find out who did this to him and why. With the help of Marie Sebastian, played by Elizabeth Olsen (Silent House), he begins to uncover the truth.
I think both Brolin and Olsen did wonderfully in this film. Adding to those talents was Michael Imperioli and Samuel L. Jackson. While I certainly could have done without some of Jackson’s rather goofy dialogue, it wouldn’t be a proper “Spike Lee Joint” without a role for ever-fantastic actor.
Diehard horror fans will be happy to know that there was actually a decent amount of blood and violence to be had throughout Oldboy. While Brolin may not be Min-sik Choi with a hammer, he certainly could hold his own.
Don’t listen to me or anyone else for that matter; just watch Oldboy and decide for yourself. I give it 3.5 hammers out of 5.
The blood and violence was good and the acting as well, I just didn’t like the idea or the storyline of this movie. Some nutjob that captures a man for 20 years with a whole thought-out ” gameplan ” or something, to pay the hostage back for what he did in the past. Meh .. only if the story was different, because everything else in this movie was cool. On a side note, that sucks about your memory. I have a bad memory as well when it comes to movies, therefor in 2008 I started writing down all the movies I’ve seen, all in notebooks. I even make an index in these notebooks, and page-number it and what not, so it’s a bit easier to find some specific movie and read it. Often I skip through these notebooks, and often I see titles and have no idea anymore what the movie was about. Then when I read my writings I’m like ” oooo yea now I remember !” I always write down the date when I watched the movie, the cast, the synopsis, and what I thought of the movie. I was just thinking, if you hate that fact, that you’re forgetting movies, it might be a nice idea for you to do too. But, just a suggestion of course. By the way, again on another side note, nice review again 🙂
I thought that some parts of the story were a little far fetched, but then again, it’s a movie, so why the hell not!? hahah.
My memory sucking is also another great reason to have this review site. I can always look back at them and see what I thought of the films, down the line.