Oldboy Remake - Trailer and thoughts

[NihilSinLulz]

So for those you haven't heard, director Spike Lee is doing a remake of the South Korean masterpiece, Oldboy, slated to be released later this year.

From what can be seen in the trailer, the remake follows a similar story to the original including similar scenes (minus the location, cast and kick ass soundtrack).

I feel bad for saying this, but my optimism about the movie is pretty low.

I love Spike Lee as a director (Do The Right Thing is a masterpiece in its own right), but I feel his talent doesn't lie in making movies outside of films dealing with race relations (look at how he fumbled Miracle of St. Anna).

Just looking at the trailer sinks any lingering enthusiasm I may have had for the remake as it lacks the uniqueness of the original, instead feeling like another generic dudebro revenge flick which are far too common in Western cinema.

I should mention that early press screenings of the uncut material seems to be positive but for me personally, I'll need some spectacular reviews before I even consider dropping coin at the cinema rather than just rewatching the original.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tFx_Iz_lUE

 

[KungFuJazzHands]

I suppose they could have picked a worse director to helm it, but Oldboy is the kind of movie that shouldn't be touched by Hollywood anyway.

It looks like they're deviating from

Spoiler

the whole "incest" angle in the original.

Weaksauce. This remake is gonna be a watered-down shitstain.

 

[NihilSinLulz]

For those who haven't seen the original, Spike Lee is basically competing with this

http://youtu.be/-OzB-mop6AA

 

[Miss G.]

Why does this movie need to be touched? If anything it should be digitally remastered when the quality gets too low in later years... maybe. But that's it.

 

[cpukill]

I suppose they could have picked a worse director to helm it, but Oldboy is the kind of movie that shouldn't be touched by Hollywood anyway.

It looks like they're deviating from

Spoiler

the whole "incest" angle in the original.

Weaksauce. This remake is gonna be a watered-down shitstain.

Dunno, I saw me some nekkid people, they might not deviate too much.

I have some amount of faith in Josh Brolin. Seeing him in "No Country For Old Men" was damn near perfect.

Then again, we also had MiB 3.......

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I suppose they could have picked a worse director to helm it, but Oldboy is the kind of movie that shouldn't be touched by Hollywood anyway.

It looks like they're deviating from

Spoiler

the whole "incest" angle in the original.

Weaksauce. This remake is gonna be a watered-down shitstain.

My thoughts exactly. If Josh already knows what his daughter looks like... well, so much for that part of the original.

 

[[Kira Must Die]]

I think it looks promising. I love the Korean Film, and am a big Chan-Wook Park fan, but this looks to be dark, gritty, and violent like the Korean film. Yeah, there are some changes, but I don't think it's any different from the ammount of changes the Korean film made to the original Japanese manga. Whether this is terrible, decent, or as good as the Korean film, well, I just have to wait and see. From what the trailer sowed, it looks interesting. I haven't seen any of Spike Lee's other movies, so it's kinda nice to go into it with an open mind.

As for the whole "This movie shouldn't be touched" thing, what's the damage, exactly? The original's still there. Nobody's telling you you can't watch the Korean film ever again. This is simply an alternative, just another interpretation of the same story. I mean, even the worst remakes never ruin an original film or franchise. Look at Dragonball Evolution. Yeah, it sucked, but it didn't set fire to the entire franchise (Dragonball sort of did that to itself way before Evolution.) When people bring up Dragonball, we know what they're referring to.

And whether a remake is pointless or unoriginal, it doesn't stop something from being entertaining.

 

[rutger5000]

I still get extremly uncomfortable whenever I think of oldboy. It was an amazing movie, but I never want to watch or hear from it again.

 

[Able Seacat]

I suppose they could have picked a worse director to helm it, but Oldboy is the kind of movie that shouldn't be touched by Hollywood anyway.

It looks like they're deviating from

Spoiler

the whole "incest" angle in the original.

Weaksauce. This remake is gonna be a watered-down shitstain.

My thoughts exactly. If Josh already knows what his daughter looks like... well, so much for that part of the original.

But how do we know that it was in fact his daughter shown to him and not an imposter?

 

[Guitarmasterx7]

At the risk of sounding uncultured, is Oldboy a widely known movie or a cult classic thing? Because, (possibly by some extremely chance circumstances,) I've literally never so much as heard the title mentioned before. Is the original worth watching?

 

[SecondPrize]

I liked Oldboy, but it's not the kind of story I want to see more than once.

 

[Reynard Wrecce]

At the risk of sounding uncultured, is Oldboy a widely known movie or a cult classic thing? Because, (possibly by some extremely chance circumstances,) I've literally never so much as heard the title mentioned before. Is the original worth watching?

It's a Korean film, released 10 years ago. Fantastic star, fantastic director, some blistering action & dramatic sequences, and some REAL dark and fudged-up stuff. It's become rather a favourite of film buffs, but it's never had any real mainstream release or recognition. Very much worth checking out.
On topic...I always strive not to pre-emptively write off remakes on principle alone. A good story can survive a re-telling, especially if the family (and 'ew...family') aspects can be updated for a Western audience. Brolin is a bona-fide heavyweight, it'll be well directed, etc. But I'm not sure what they will bring to the film to make their own re-telling worthwhile. I live in hope, though.

 

[VonKlaw]

I suppose they could have picked a worse director to helm it, but Oldboy is the kind of movie that shouldn't be touched by Hollywood anyway.

It looks like they're deviating from

Spoiler

the whole "incest" angle in the original.

Weaksauce. This remake is gonna be a watered-down shitstain.

My thoughts exactly. If Josh already knows what his daughter looks like... well, so much for that part of the original.

But how do we know that it was in fact his daughter shown to him and not an imposter?

The problem is that if "the daughter" is an imposter, it will probably feel like a forced "haha got ya!" attempt at a plot twist.

Not to mention my severe distrust that an American film will actually include -the main aspect that made the original film so shocking- rather than replacing it with something more "family friendly"

 

[josemlopes]

I think the biggest problem with this remake is that it seems completely unecessary

 

[Teoes]

I'm overdue re-watching the original actually. Just watched the trailer without sound.. eh, it didn't look bad. Seems to have a lot going for it in terms of pedigree, but yeah - will it recapture the magic? If it recaptures the same or similar magic, was there much point? If it lacks the magic, there was no point. If it captures it's own magic, then groovy.

 

[Fappy]

Trailer didn't look that bad, but it didn't look that great either.

Spoiler

Pretty sure they may still be going with the incest angle. The girl they say is his real daughter could be a decoy.

 

[erbi79]

Oldboy shouldn't be remade because it can't be remake, especially not by hollywood....

the original is an insanely good and disturbing movie, and you can't just remove the "korean" out of it, if you know what i mean...

well too bad, but then again, who cares, the original will always be there to be adored by me^^

 

[Queen Michael]

IMO, we never needed any Oldboy movie to begin with. The original manga is great as it is, it doesn't need any big-screen adaptaion. With that said, though, the Korean movie is a darn good movie, so we've already got a good movie version. No need to make a new version just because the original had too many non-Americans for some people's taste.

 

[Arqus_Zed]

Eh...

I hope the trailer music isn't an indication for the actual soundtrack of the film. (I want my waltz dammit!)

Also, he wakes up in a suitcase in a field, not a suitcase in a patch of grass on top of a building.
So I guess that's a "no" on the whole scene with the guy who is planning to commit suicide by jumping of a roof.

Furthermore, from the looks of it, Spike isn't planning on using any of the lingering still shots good ol' Chan-Wook got famous for. Not surprising, because it really is something director-specific, but I'm gonna miss stuff like the "dotted line going from the hammer to the head".

Lastly, if the shot where he fights of multiple guys with a hammer is supposed to become the new "hallway scene", I am not impressed (it's too open; the scene needs to be dark and claustrophobic).

Still, going from the trailer alone, it still looks better than I had feared. I'm pretty damn sure it won't top the original, but it might not be THAT bad.

 

[SkullKing]

I would like to see an Oldboy movie closer to the original manga.