So above is the first red band trailer for the US remake of the Park Chan-wook's South Korean revenge thriller masterpiece Oldboy. The first post I ever did on this blog was about the original Oldboy because when I thought about what my favourite film was it jumped straight into my mind. In my eyes it is a perfect film which I can watch over and over and my enjoyment never diminishes.
I really can't praise it enough and that is why I have always been worried about what the inevitable American remake would do to my favourite movie. I know that I will always have my original but the US remake will be the version that the majority of my friends and movie going public will see and I just hope that it will do justice to the original.
You see this is an example of a typical conversation goes when I suggest watching Oldboy...
Me - 'Hey you fancy watching Oldboy it's amazing!'
Friend - 'Not heard of it what is it?'
Me - 'It's a South Korean revenge thriller by Park Chan-wook starring Choi min-sik'
Friend - 'Ummm I don't really do subtitles shall we watch something else'
But imagine that conversation with the remake...
Me - 'Hey you fancy watching Oldboy it's amazing!'
Friend - 'Not heard of it what is it?'
Me - 'It's a revenge thriller by Spike Lee starring Josh Brolin'
Friend - 'Oooo sounds good go on then'
This is why I want this remake to be good as it will hopefully act as a catalyst for people to discover the original and join me in realising it's brilliance. It was therefor with trepidation that I watched the above trailer and got my first glimpse of what Spike Lee had done with my beloved Oldboy.
First impression was that I like Josh Brolin as Oldboy. He is an actor who I have admired since No Country for Old Men (he was pretty good in The Goonies but for different reasons) Over the past few years there has been many actors linked with the role one of which was Will Smith! I remember that when I heard this I immediately wrote it off as Will Smith would never be in a film as dark and impactful as the original. I always toted Gary Oldman for the role but as time went by and he got older that became a pipe dream. But Josh Brolin is a worth candidate and his opening line in this trailer seems to invoke the Oldboy character.
In fact the start of the trailer is possibly the only part of the whole thing that feels like the original. The imprisonment of Oldboy is a key part of the plot but I did find the fact that his daughter is shown grown up in these scenes suggesting that the whole end of the original can't be in this remake disappointing. It looks as though the motivation for Oldboy in this version is to save his daughter and get revenge on his capture. The original Oldboy only had 'Why was I imprisioned' as motivation and is told if he doesn't find out why then someone will die.
The final scenes of the original were so impactful. They left you feeling like you had been punched in the stomach and they were what made sure that it stayed in my mind for weeks/years/decades afterwards. So if this has been taken out then straight away this isn't Oldboy. I can understand that the Hollywood machine is not a fan of churning out films that deal with darker themes but I hoped with Spike Lee at the helm he would stay true to the original. He may still for all I know but from this trailer it doesn't look good.
It appears that the hammer is going to stay as Oldboys weapon of choice which is a no brainer and I will wait with interest to see Spike Lee's take on the 'Hallway Hammer Fight Scene' of the original. A scene that I think is one of the greatest ever scenes committed to film (see my original post for more) If Lee can come even close to it then it will be brilliant!
It is going to be a very interesting experience watching this movie as I really can't see how it can match the original and I will find it very hard to not be critical of it as it is dealing with something that I love and feel protective of. I hope that I enjoy this but I live safe in the knowledge that if it does disappoint me then I can go home and watch the original Oldboy and I will instantly be cheered up. As I said earlier if all this remake does is act as a gateway for others to discover Park's masterpiece then it can't be a bad thing.
Written by Owen
While drinking Corona & eating Fudge
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