A[SECTION O] REVIEW OF

OLDBOY (2013) vs OLDEUBOI (2003)(not really):"

"Josh Brolin as Doucett in Min-sik Choi as Dae-su in"Spike Lee’s “Oldboy” (2013) Chan-wook Park’s Oldboy (2003)" I would first like to say that I am so SO sorry for watching this movie. It would seem so, in retrospect, for a person such as myself would even dare give single cent and encouraging the studio system on riding the gravy train of the seemingly never-ending list of unoriginal ideas. 

YES THESE OLD GUYS HAVE

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DEFINITELY "

RAN OUT OF FU**ING IDEAS!!!!!!!!! …A LONG TIME AGO

" Now, to start things off here, I would say that Chan Wook-Park’s original film of the same title is one of favorite movies of the last decade (top five), so to even fathom the concept that a studio would have the pure brass cajones of even considering remaking such a celebrated classic is cinematic blasphemy. ""

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"" Funny thing that happened while this movie was in development hell, Stephen Spielberg and Will Smith were originally attach to participate in this little project. Heh, just think that if these guys were to go ahead in bringing this project into fruition, this movie would be VERY different than the original (see also Will Smith vs Django and Terry Gilliam vs Spielberg’s filmography). 

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We now fast forward a few years later, and lo and behold we have Spike Lee coming into the fold to “re-intepret” this material. “Re”adapted by Mark Protosevich, this movie very much covers the same themes of its South Korean counterpart; to

which the movie revolves around the character of Jonathan Doucett, an ad executive (a bullish*t artist) who after blowing a deal after just closing said deal with a prospective client, goes into a drunken stupor and is randomly kidnapped and held in solitary

confinement for 20 years. After being inexplicably released, Doucet (like Dae-su before him), obsessively goes on a mission to discover the identity of the captor, only to discover that he’s still boxed in his kidnaper’s tortuitous web of pain.  ""

Now I opened this review with an apology of even daring to expose my eyes to such alleged cinematic blasphemy; and you know what? The movie wasn’t as bad as I thought it would turn out to be. Yeah, I also made mention that

Protosevich’s screenplay pretty much plays out the themes almost beat for beat from its Asian counterpart, but not in the way one would think. He does take a few “artistic" liberties here and there with the material at hand, but to no avail for those that are indeed fans of the original.  "

When I saw this movie, almost hours ago before making the decision to do a write up for the picture, there were only four people in attendance, mostly old people; and I think there was an outside chance that there was one or two of those people—aside from myself—that was familiar with Park’s film. Not to my surprise, the people that just came out from the screening either felt disgusted, indifferent, really sh*tty, or a combination of all of the above. 

"""""""""" " " One of the main differences between the American and South Korean counterparts is the running time. The former ran at about two hours while the latter ran at an hour and forty five minutes-ish. Second, was that the introduction of our protagonists are different. Dae-su was introduced to us rather coldly as this good-natured guy who was arrested for public drunkenness, then he was imprisoned. Doucett, on the other hand, is also a drunk, but he was also one hell of a douchebag. "

I would have to say that in some respects, this version of the material felt more like a very dark, and over-the-top, border-line cartoon that falls just short of honoring the spirit of its Korean counterpart. I do get that its source material originated from a manga, but even that's more brutal and insane than its two cinematic counterparts combined. Make no mistake about that.  ""Spike Lee, for the better part of fifteen years, has been one of my favorite directors, but he’s been on the bubble for the last five years, mainly due to the fact that he would rather start quarrels within the film community than to focus his energies else, and the quality of films suffer as a result. I get it, he’s an artist, and he wants to make whatever damn movie he likes. "

Uh, how much was he paid for this gig?

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