Review of Oldboy (2013) by Cris C — 11 Dec 2013

Oldboy is a remake of the 2004 Korean film of the same name except this time the film is directed by Spike Lee and stars Josh Brolin, Elizabeth Olsen, Sharlto Copley, James Ransone, Samuel L Jackson, and Michael Imperioli.

This is a difficult review to write because there are some things I really enjoyed about Oldboy and 3 things that I really hated about this film. First off I liked Lee's direction in this film, the film is shot flawlessly, I enjoyed the performances in the film, and I really liked the premise and script up until the final act which I will save for the end of the review.

Now to the things I hated, the fight scenes in this film looked and felt so unbelievably fake and cheesy, I mean felt comic bookish for such a dark and serious film, the second thing I hated was the twist in the final act.

I mean I was completely engaged in this story I couldn't look away I wanted to know the big mystery this is a very clever story, but the only thing the twist did for me was disgust me and take me clean out of the experience of this film, and for the 3rd thing I hated about this film is the way it concludes.

It doesn't end in an open ended manner it ties up all loose ends but the ending is just so stupid and horrible that it again ruins the interest the film had. Im going with a C - for Oldboy. If your a film lover it is worth one watch maybe other than that this film builds up and just lets down.