Oldboy Remake - Trailer and thoughts

[Quellist]

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

I felt pretty much the same about 'The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo' but Hollywood just cant be told i guess.

Although, in the case of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, it was unnecessary mostly due to the original being rather unremarkable.

I'll respectfully disagree as i found it to be a cracking movie. Still the point stands either way

 

[Julius Terrell]

]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.

Are you fucking kidding me. Just show the original in the theaters. If people are too weak-minded to handle it then don't watch it. Why can Hollywood get their movies shown all around the world, but we can't get foreign films shown here. Melting pot my ass! It's like America is basically saying to other countries that their films will never be worth showing here, and that they should be lucky that we even want to watch any of your movies at all. If we're going to show your film here, we're going to put americans in it, and butcher your ideas to suit our needs. That's what they've done to most of the other foreign films.

Edit: I feel like this is saying that Americans can't accept other cultures, but they must accept ours. What load of bullshit!!

 

[[Kira Must Die]]

Are you fucking kidding me. Just show the original in the theaters. If people are too weak-minded to handle it then don't watch it. Why can Hollywood get their movies shown all around the world, but we can't get foreign films shown here. Melting pot my ass! It's like America is basically saying to other countries that their films will never be worth showing here, and that they should be lucky that we even want to watch any of your movies at all. If we're going to show your film here, we're going to put americans in it, and butcher your ideas to suit our needs. That's what they've done to most of the other foreign films.

Edit: I feel like this is saying that Americans can't accept other cultures, but they must accept ours. What load of bullshit!!

If people want to see the Korean film they can just buy the DVD. That's what I did. That movie will always have it audience, and it's not gonna be destroyed because big bad Hollywood decided to make their own version. You can piss and moan all you want, you still have the original to watch anytime.

I don't see "whitewashing" or "Americanizing" as exclusively a bad thing. Yeah, it has been done poorly, but as long as the story's in tact, the characters are still there, and the themes are all there, then I don't see the problem with simply making this character white or this character black or setting it in a different location. There has been many stories and adaptations that has survived that stuff. There's nothing in the overall plot of Old Boy that is exclusively Korean. Hell, Old Boy was originally a Japanese manga, which was turned into a Korean film, so they essentially "Koreanized" a Japanese product, but I guess that's fine because it's not America, right?

Also, other countries have been remaking American films as well as other foreign films as well. Hell, India has their own remake of Old Boy called Zinda, which I can guarantee you that no matter how bad the American remake is it will be better than that.

 

[Julius Terrell]

]

Are you fucking kidding me. Just show the original in the theaters. If people are too weak-minded to handle it then don't watch it. Why can Hollywood get their movies shown all around the world, but we can't get foreign films shown here. Melting pot my ass! It's like America is basically saying to other countries that their films will never be worth showing here, and that they should be lucky that we even want to watch any of your movies at all. If we're going to show your film here, we're going to put americans in it, and butcher your ideas to suit our needs. That's what they've done to most of the other foreign films.

Edit: I feel like this is saying that Americans can't accept other cultures, but they must accept ours. What load of bullshit!!

If people want to see the Korean film they can just buy the DVD. That's what I did. That movie will always have it audience, and it's not gonna be destroyed because big bad Hollywood decided to make their own version. You can piss and moan all you want, you still have the original to watch anytime.

I don't see "whitewashing" or "Americanizing" as exclusively a bad thing. Yeah, it has been done poorly, but as long as the story's in tact, the characters are still there, and the themes are all there, then I don't see the problem with simply making this character white or this character black or setting it in a different location. There has been many stories and adaptations that has survived that stuff. There's nothing in the overall plot of Old Boy that is exclusively Korean. Hell, Old Boy was originally a Japanese manga, which was turned into a Korean film, so they essentially "Koreanized" a Japanese product, but I guess that's fine because it's not America, right?

The story won't stay intact. The trailer pretty much confirmed that. What's the point of remaking the film if you're going to change the story around. It's not the same movie anymore. No awesome music or anything. I listen to the OST ALL THE TIME! Just because Hollywood has the money doesn't mean they should do it.

I've been wanting to see more foreign films in the movie theater for quite some time I shouldn't have to go to some obscure movie house to do so.

Also, other countries have been remaking American films as well as other foreign films as well. Hell, India has their own remake of Old Boy called Zinda, which I can guarantee you that no matter how bad the American remake is it will be better than that.

 

[[Kira Must Die]]

The story won't stay intact. The trailer pretty much confirmed that. What's the point of remaking the film if you're going to change the story around. It's not the same movie anymore. No awesome music or anything. I listen to the OST ALL THE TIME! Just because Hollywood has the money doesn't mean they should do it.

I've been wanting to see more foreign films in the movie theater for quite some time I shouldn't have to go to some obscure movie house to do so.

Don't forget that the Korean movie made a ton of changes to the original manga story. I appreciate it when a remake isn't shot for shot or does something different. Hell, Chan-Wook Park came out and said that he hopes they do something different with the remake. It's still the basic plot, just with a few changes here and there.

 

[rob_simple]

Wow, whole lot of cynicism going on in here.

I love the original Oldboy, and for the longest time I was happy I'd heard nothing about the remake, but I think this looks pretty legit. They absolutely nailed the main character, I think he looks perfect for the part. The soundtrack sounds shitty compared to the original, and some of the visual stuff I could do without (the woman in that sheer dress with her arse showing? Not really necessary,) but overall I'd now consider watching this.

Also, as to why they are doing it, (aside from money, obviously,) maybe because it's a brilliant story that most people wouldn't give a chance because it's in a foreign language? Maybe because after seeing this one they'll go and watch the original and be introduced to Park Chan Wook's other excellent films?

You don't have to be all negative, all the time, you know.

 

[william12123]

Hope they do ok. Quite liked the manga.

 

[leviathanmisha]

I can at least say this: the Oldboy remake will probably be better than Quarantine, which was basically REC (a spanish movie) shot for shot, and yet they STILL managed to take out all the things that made REC interesting. And we don't talk about Quarantine 2, because that movie is a gross injustice and you can tell that they didn't give a shit about anything beyond making money at that point.

But I still don't have much hope for this. Because I never have much hope for Americanized remakes of things.

 

[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.

Where i'm from we call that Silent hill 2 syndrome.

Then remind me never to play Silent hill 2.

 

[Flamezdudes]

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.

I Don't think so, I bet the girl on the TV ends up being a red herring and is not his real daughter.

You're probably right. Still, I don't have my hopes up for this remake. It looks like typical Hollywood "foreign film obsession" cash-grab fare, and I don't know if Spike Lee is up to the task. Don't get me wrong, he's a fantastic filmmaker when he's in his element (Malcolm X is one of my personal faves), but I think Oldboy is just a little too nuanced for his type of craftsmanship.

The last time I can remember a Hollywood remake surpassing the original was with Let Me In. It's just such a rarity for a remake to be better or even equal to the original it's mimicking. Why do they bother if they can't manage that?

Hah. You're kidding right? There is no way Let Me In surpassed the original. Let The Right One In is the best version. The remake wasn't needed and fucked shit up.

 

[KungFuJazzHands]

You're probably right. Still, I don't have my hopes up for this remake. It looks like typical Hollywood "foreign film obsession" cash-grab fare, and I don't know if Spike Lee is up to the task. Don't get me wrong, he's a fantastic filmmaker when he's in his element (Malcolm X is one of my personal faves), but I think Oldboy is just a little too nuanced for his type of craftsmanship.

The last time I can remember a Hollywood remake surpassing the original was with Let Me In. It's just such a rarity for a remake to be better or even equal to the original it's mimicking. Why do they bother if they can't manage that?

Hah. You're kidding right? There is no way Let Me In surpassed the original. Let The Right One In is the best version. The remake wasn't needed and fucked shit up.

I do not kid. The original was good, but the remake was better.

Then again, I thought Fincher's remake of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was pointless trash, so you can take my opinion on cinema with a grain of salt.

 

[Zombie Badger]

I'm incredibly cynical about an american remake of Oldboy for quite a few reasons. First I don't think that hollywood has the balls to follow through with the same third act as the original film (The leads of Seven had to threaten to walk off the production to get that films ending kept) but also because I really dislike american revenge films as they always glorify revenge and often at the same time vigilantism (Which always reminds me of the villain of Oldboy's quote 'Revenge is good for your health, you should try it sometime'), with no more insight into the concept of revenge than Commando. I'm also suspect of this film because I don't think that Spike Lee is a great director.