Review of Oldboy (2013) by Jesse O — 05 Mar 2014

If you know me or you're one of my closest friends then you're probably aware that the original Oldboy is my favorite movie of all time. It's not the best movie I've ever seen, but it is my favorite.

It's a movie that I, many years ago, introduced to my friends at high school and many of them loved the film as well. I've watched the film at least 10 times over the past 9 years I've owned the DVD, I even have the special 3-disc box set that includes the manga the original film is based on.

So you could say that I am a gigantic fan of the film, so that may make some of you out there, if anyone ever reads this, which I doubt, that this is the rantings of a fanboy who isn't choosing to be fair to this film because it's a remake of his favorite movie of all time.

I get all of that. But I'm here to tell you that I went into this film with a completely open mind, and this is pre-release before the reviews came out, and I was really excited because the cast, while not necessarily my dream cast, as I always had in mind Viggo Mortensen as the 'hero' and Javier Bardem, or Benicio Del Toro, as the 'villain'.

I'd have chosen Elizabeth Olsen right from the start, but Josh Brolin and Sharlto Copley are both incredibly talented actors, and underrated in the case of Sharlto. So I was really happy that the cast was full of talented people.

I'm not the biggest Spike Lee fan in the world, but he is talented, so I thought that the film really did have a chance to be good. As you can see by the rating, the film is anything but. The film being edited down to 100-minutes from the original 140-minute cut Spike Lee handed the producers.

This caused some controversy as both Josh Brolin and Spike Lee hated the final cut, Spike Lee even removed his trademark 'Spike Lee Joint' in favor of the more traditional 'Spike Lee Film'.

Personally, I hope Lee's original cut sees the light of day, because this film was absolutely missing something. Something that very well could've existed in Lee's original cut. This edited version simply runs over some of the original film's themes.

For example, the film is as much a love story as it is a revenge thriller and you don't really get a sense that Marie and Joe truly fell in love because their relationship isn't really explored in the final cut of the film.

Another thing the original film did exquisitely is sort of reverse the roles of villain/hero by the climax. The villain in the original film doesn't exactly become the hero, but you can see that he was really affected by what happened in his past and in many ways you feel sorry for what he had to go through and you end up despising the hero for what he did when he was younger.

In this film the approach to the hero and the villain is far more simplified and direct. While Joe was very much an asshole when he was in school, the film makes it really hard to feel sorry for Adryan in any way.

Again, this might've been present in the original cut of the film. You may ask yourself why so openly comparing the original film to the remake rather than looking at it on its own merits. This is a very logical question.

The reason I'm doing this is because this remake, outside of expanding some stuff, is almost exactly as the original film. Of course the actors, the locations and the way it was shot changed, but the important plot points remain exactly the same as the original film.

The only thing that's different, and that I liked, is the ending. And this is everything after Joe finds out the truth at the end. I really liked that, because it was legitimately the only thing about the remake that was truly different from the original.

I still liked the ending in the original much better as it focused more on the monster that Oh Dae Su had become in his search for vengeance and how he copes with that on top of what he knows about the woman he fell in love with.

One key scene is left out, and you'll know the one, but they allude to it in a pretty cool scene. I think that that scene was essential to the development of the character in the original film, because he had fed dumplings nonstop for 15 years by his captors, that he wanted to feel something that was alive, which in turn made him do what he did at the restaurant.

But I digress, the best remakes are those that are faithful to its source material but they also add some new little twists and turns to make the experience completely new to those that watched the film you're remaking.

If you're gonna do the same film over again, then what's the point? I can watch the original film and get more out of it. Yes, if you stray too far from the source material you risk alienating the same people you're appealing to with the remake, but take a risk.

I'd have rather seen this movie take risks and alienate those hardcore fans than seeing the same movie I've already seen multiple times. This movie just isn't really that good, it uses violence in order to disguise the fact that the film is a pretty shallow experience.

The film just never seems to get its foot out of the gate. It doesn't build tension nor does it really build its characters the way it should've. Say what you will about the original film, but that movie was all about the characters.

This film isn't. Again, this is something that could've been present in Lee's original cut, but in its current state it just doesn't have good character development. The cast is good though, they're easily the best part of the film.

Though I did find Sharlto's character to be really fucking goofy at times with how he was presented. He felt like a really bad Bond villain at times. This is not on Sharlto, as he does the best he can with what he was given.

Josh Brolin delivers the goods as does Elizabeth Olsen. They're both quite good in this movie and it's just a shame to see that their relationship wasn't as developed as it could've been.

Another thing that I wanted to see was how they handled Oh Dae Su's pathetic breakdown at the end of the film when he finds out the truth and how he begs Woo-Jin not to reveal the truth to Mi-do, that's the character known as Mia in this film.

That scene was absolutely powerful in how pathetic Oh Dae Su became when he found out the truth and how he was willing to be Woo-Jin's slave just so he wouldn't reveal the truth to Mi-Do. Dae Su was wagging his tale as if he was a dog and licking Woo-Jin's shoes.

It's the type of thing you don't normally see your hero, who's spent the entire movie being a badass, do. And I was interested in seeing how this film handled that. Let me just say it wasn't as close to as pathetic as it was in the original film and that was really a shame, because that was easily the most important scene in the film.

You have this guy going on this violent rampage to find out why he was being imprisoned for as long as he was...and at the end he becomes a joke, a shell of his former self, and he's doing it all because his love for Mi-Do.

If there was a scene I wish the film remained 100% faithful to, it was this one. Because this is something that you don't see in many American movies. You don't see the 'hero' of the film completely breakdown in hysterics, completely embarrassing himself in order to protect the person he loves.

But that's just me. But I digress, I think this review has gone on long enough. If you thought this review spent too much time comparing the original film and the remake, then that's because that was the intention.

This film does absolutely nothing new of its own and that is ultimately its biggest downfall. That, and the fact that it just doesn't know how to build proper tension. Not a terrible film at all, but if you're a fan of the original film then you'd just be better off watching that again.

This will not add anything nor does it complement the original at all. This is a massive disappointment, not a good movie at all.