Review of Oldboy (2013) by Alex W — 24 Apr 2014

Though I'm very forgiving when it comes to a lot of films, I was honestly not expecting much of anything good to come out the remake of the original Korean revenge classic. The original film was quite a unique film as far as revenge films go, mostly in the way that it wanted to explore the darker depths of the human soul and what they're motivations truly are, rather than just having a bunch of violence to solve the issue. It was also very methodical in its pacing and wanted the viewer to absorb all the little details, and it also packed one hell of a punch when it came to violence - which was done in a visceral and effective manner, rather than just being an all out bloodbath. In the end, it rightfully became the classic it is renowned as being and should be used by other film-makers as a template for making a great revenge film.

Does this remake of Oldboy match up the original? Certainly not, and it never will by any stretch of the imagination. Let's face it, it's basically an impossibly high standard to want to live up the fantastic original film. There is just no real way to surpass it.

That being said, I still thoroughly enjoyed this weird, lurid, and at times wacky revenge film in all of its gloriously weird charm. It's fascinating film that I feel forged its own path bravely and I feel that it was very well done considering all the negativity surrounding it and inevitable backlash it would receive for daring to be a remake of a classic film.

The plot follows the story of a man named Joe, starting in the year 1993. Joe is a deadbeat dad, an alcoholic, a lousy employee for an ad agency, pervert, and all around bad guy who is hated by pretty much everyone around him.

During one particularly bad night of pissing off multiple people (Including his wife) and drinking heavily, Joe is kidnapped and wakes to find himself locked in what looks like a crappy motel room from which he cannot escape or make contact with the outside world. He is left alone to endlessly watch television, eat the crappy food served to him, drink to his heart's content, and whatever else to keep himself occupied for his unknown period of stay.

All sorts of things happen to him whilst in captivity, including negative things. When he is masturbating, he is knocked unconscious by gas that fills the room and his DNA is taken from to frame him for the brutal rape and murder of his wife for which he becomes a wanted fugitive for. He is also haunted by a crime program which always talks about his wife's murder and the fate of his daughter after she is adopted and raised by her adopted family. From that, he decides to change his life such as no longer drinking, exercising, and writing letters to his daughter that he hopes to give her one day - all while watching the years go by on his sole entertainment purpose of television. He is also devastated by the killing of a rat he befriended while in captivity, which is cooked and served to him to torment him further.

From these events, Joe begins to form an escape plan by removing bricks from the shower. However, his plan is foiled when his plan is interrupted by a television program about his daughter and gas fills up the room, knocking him unconscious yet again.

When he wakes, he finds himself in a coffin with a bag of money, a cell phone, and other items and free in the outside world after being in captivity for 20 years. He pursues the mysterious woman who made him disappear years earlier when he recognizes her yellow umbrella and in the process, beats up some football players he encounters who stand in his way, meets a girl named Marie, and ends up at the bar he was at the night he disappeared...where he passes out from dehydration and lack of food.

It is learned as he investigates what happened to him (Along with help from his new female companion, Marie), that he has a limited time to figure out who locked him up and what their motivations were for doing so. This path leads him down a trail of brutal violence and shocking revelations that could tear him apart to the very core of his soul and those around him.

While the plot is pretty much identical to the original, admittedly this remake doesn't come close to having the emotional impact of the original. However, that's not to say that this film is devoid of emotional impact, as the reveal is still quite horrific like in the original, complete with believable emotions upon learning such a horrible truth (Thanks to a brilliant performance by Josh Brolin). However, this film's story is mostly a trashy revenge film, punctuated by many strange and lurid moments that keep it lively and interesting, instead of turning into a drab revenge fantasy. I enjoyed this film's story on the basis of being weird and trashy, which it works quite well as, which will no doubt annoy most fans of the original film. But, I decided to take and enjoy the film as it was and I accepted that it was its own entity.

I also really enjoyed the acting across the board, and I feel that everyone did a good job. But, it was Josh Brolin who was the best among them and I felt compelled and riveted by his performance which was conveyed so well and believably. Elizabeth Olsen also does a terrific job as Marie, and she was very likable as she absorbed herself into her character. Plus, I find it really hard to hate a film featuring Samuel L. Jackson, who gives another one of his weird, loony performances that is so infectious and fun to watch, even though he has a smaller part in the film. Plus, Sharlto Copley does a terrific job as the tortured villain of the story, even though he can't quite match up to Yoo Ji-tae's performance as Lee Woo-jin in the original, which were awfully big shoes to fill. He is still pretty good however.

As with any revenge film, there is quite a bit nasty violence. However, it is certainly not as horrific and gruesome as it was in the original. As far as the violence goes, there are times when it is quite goofy and over the top. The hand to hand fight scenes in the film feel like the standard fare as far as action films go, and they are also very over the top. The scene when Joe fights the group of football players (I guess this team only has five or six players), he mercilessly beats the shit out of them while their girlfriends watch in horror...and it is unintentionally funny. There are also torture sequences, stabbings, and some gun violence which are all over the top (The torture sequence with Samuel L. Jackson is funny as hell, especially all the names he calls Joe and the curse words he shouts). The violence and action scenes are all over the top, wacky, and downright strange, but they satisfied me on a trashy entertainment level (Plus, I am a sucker for revenge films, so this seemed to be right up my alley).

In the end, the Oldboy remake is a flawed film that will never be able to live up the standards of the excellent Korean original. However, I cannot deny that I enjoyed this film quite a bit. The acting is terrific, the story is weird and lurid in glorious ways, the violence is wacky and gory, and it was also strangely compelling and intriguing in its own ways. It's a fascinating guilty pleasure that is much better than critics and moviegoers gave it credit for, if you take it as it is and have fun with it.