Oldboy, the 2003 South Korean film directed by Park Chan-wook, is one of my all time favorite films. It's this perfect combination of story, style and substance that is a rarity in films these days. When I learned that Hollywood was making a remake of this cult classic, I was a bit hesitant. A good remake of a foreign film is a rare thing.
Oldboy (2013) turns out to be even more violent and bloody than the original, cleaning up most of the plot holes from the first film. Josh Brolin's interpretation of the character as Joe Doucett is at first a loud, obnoxious asshole. When he gets locked up (for 20 years this time) we feel little sympathy for his character. The film then faithfully follows the manga and the Korean version of the film as far as his imprisonment is concerned. His release and later confrontation with the antagonist feels believable, and everything is more clearly explained, getting rid of certain aspects of the original film that are confusing.
What this new version of the film lacks, however, is heart. Everything feels so mechanical. Doucett comes across as a real asshole, and not because Josh Brolin is a bad actor (quite the opposite) but because the character was written that way. In that way we tend to invest in his quest for revenge a little less, and we lack the catharsis, or whatever you want to call it, during the film's climax. Technically the film is superb. Sound, cinematography, everything is solid. In some places the film is even more violent than the original. But even if taken alone, there's something intangible that the film lacks, a kind of organic, visceral feeling that one evokes with such images.
I'd recommend at least a watch from fans of the original, just to see how the source material can be played with in new ways. New fans might want to try this version, although I still stand with the Korean adaptation.
What this new version of the film lacks, however, is heart. Everything feels so mechanical. Doucett comes across as a real asshole, and not because Josh Brolin is a bad actor (quite the opposite) but because the character was written that way. In that way we tend to invest in his quest for revenge a little less, and we lack the catharsis, or whatever you want to call it, during the film's climax. Technically the film is superb. Sound, cinematography, everything is solid. In some places the film is even more violent than the original. But even if taken alone, there's something intangible that the film lacks, a kind of organic, visceral feeling that one evokes with such images.
I'd recommend at least a watch from fans of the original, just to see how the source material can be played with in new ways. New fans might want to try this version, although I still stand with the Korean adaptation.
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