Oldboy, Spike Lee’s remake of the Park Chan-wook film of the same name (which won numerous awards for its grim violence, shocking twists, explicit yet barbarically beautiful fight scenes and atmospheric cinematography) tries very hard. It tries very hard to shock. It tries very hard to be grim, gritty, stark and compelling–yet nothing really coalesces. Moments within the film are memorable–certainly the corridor fight springs to mind–but the film never reaches the psychotic heights or perverse lows of its predecessor, and as such, falls flat.
Josh Brolin as Joe Doucett in Spike Lee’s remake of “Oldboy”
Josh Brolin stars as Joe Doucett, a not-so-nice ad man with a serious drinking problem, a ex-wife who’s sick of him, and a three-year-old daughter whose birthday party he misses in order to take out an important client (whose wife he hits on, losing the account and sparking a night of black-out drinking). The film does an truly admirable job of recreating the era (the action starts in 1993), and Brolin is engaging as the debauched golden boy–including carrying 20 or so extra pounds.
At the end of the night, refused by his one remaining friend (Michael Imperioli as bar-owner Chucky), Brolin is lured by a young woman with a yellow umbrella and abducted–we don’t know who by–to a faux cheap-motel room which is quickly shown to be a private jail of some kind. Brolin’s descent into isolated madness, and his subsequent fight back to sanity, is perhaps the best part of the film. Brolin is alone on the screen for a chunk of the film and he maintains a compelling presence through out.
Josh Brolin in “Oldboy”
His prison is not without some distractions, namely a TV (with delightfully period-accurate programming) which airs an America’s Most Wanted-esque type show. Through this, he learns that his ex-wife was brutally raped and murdered and his DNA (removed by his unseen jailors) was at the scene. His daughter was adopted and is, apparently, a cello prodigy.
This incites Doucett to sober up, exercise, and plan his escape. It takes him twenty years to carve a tunnel, but before he can use it, he is released out into the world, complete with iPhone, cash, and a ticking clock: find out who abducted him, and why, or his daughter dies. The woman with the yellow umbrella leads him through a football field (where he violently attacks three college guys) and then to a mobile medical clinic, where he meets Marie (Elizabeth Olson), a lost soul who is drawn to Doucett and ends up helping him unravel the mystery.
Josh Brolin in “Oldboy”
What follows is a series of set-piece violence-porn, beautifully choreographed (see above mention of the corridor fight) and almost random plot twists forced down the films gullet in order to arrive at its ‘shocking’ ending. Changes from the original weaken the premise (and don’t seem to be made for any practical reason) and reduce the characters to caricatures.
The cast is strong but cannot save the film from its combined issues of plotting, pacing and predictability. Samuel L Jackson (as Chaney, the Jailer) seems lost in his Square-Enix-esque costumes and hairstyle; Sharlto Copley (Adrian/The Stranger) loses any menace with a off again/on again vaguely European accent and seems as lost as the audience is as to why he’s driven to do what he does.
We were left wanting to like this film–Brolin especially earns high praise for his work in it–but it is reductive and spectacle driven. We recommend watching the original if you’re looking for some revenge-fantasy for your Thanksgiving holiday.
The film is rated R and opens wide on November 27th, 2013.
Geekscape Score: 2.5/5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrLcnrnEqyI