Change Your Image
valeriovictor01
Reviews
Oldboy (2013)
A cheap carbon copy of the original
I was actually one of the very few people who was excited about this movie. Oldboy(the original) remains to be one of my favorite films of all time. The philosophical messages, the Mise en scène, and the acting, they all came together beautifully. An American remake, created by the great Spike Lee made me feel as though this film had a lot of promise, and I was severely disappointed.
The original had an immensely shocking ending with a purpose, the shocking ending was what made me and hundreds to thousands of other audience members alike with a face of shock and disgust as the credits roll. The remake attempted to up the scale without any purpose, and still managed to be the exact opposite of shocking.
All I'm gonna say is that it has something to do with sex. The original had a purpose for it's shocking conclusion, while the remake just kept trying to up the scale clumsily and ended up falling flat on it's face. The remake also extended the beginning, it showed more light to the protagonist and actually got us to hate the guy. The original showed some light but the protagonist was still somewhat likable, at least compared to the remake.
The fascinating thing about the original is that you actually like the guy and you feel disoriented just like he is about being trapped inside a motel room.
The remake was honestly just trying way too hard to be like the original rather than being it's own film and that's why it failed. I would actually recommend seeing it if you're an aspiring filmmaker, purely for the shots that are made(The shots were remarkable. I have to say that). However as for story, acting, and as a movie as a whole? It was pretty bad.