Oldboy (2013)

Obsessed with vengeance, a man sets out to find out why he was kidnapped and locked into solitary confinement for twenty years without reason.

Director:

Spike Lee

Writers:

Garon Tsuchiya (manga), Nobuaki Minegishi (manga)

Stars:

Josh Brolin, Elizabeth Olsen, Samuel L. Jackson

4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Josh Brolin	...	Joe Doucett
Elizabeth Olsen	...	Marie Sebastian
Sharlto Copley	...	Adrian / The Stranger
Samuel L. Jackson	...	Chaney
Michael Imperioli	...	Chucky
Pom Klementieff	...	Haeng-Bok
James Ransone	...	Dr. Tom Melby
Max Casella	...	James Prestley
Linda Emond	...	Edwina Burke
Elvis Nolasco	...	Cortez
Rami Malek	...	Browning
Lance Reddick	...	Daniel Newcombe
Hannah Ware	...	Donna Hawthorne
Richard Portnow	...	Bernie Sharkey
Hannah Simone	...	Stephanie Lee

Storyline

An advertising executive is kidnapped and held hostage for 20 years in solitary confinement. When he is inexplicably released, he embarks on an obsessive mission to discover who orchestrated his punishment, only to find he is still trapped in a web of conspiracy and torment.

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Plot Keywords:

father daughter incest | incest | male nudity | female nudity | solitary confinement | 

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Taglines:

Ask not why you were imprisoned. Ask why you were set free.

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Genres:

Action | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

16+

Did You Know?

Trivia

Will Smith and Daniel Craig were offered the lead role, but turned it down.

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Goofs

After being imprisoned in 1993, Joe turns on the TV and as he surf the channels a fragment of Xena: Warrior Princess is seen, but Xena did not start on TV until late 1995. It is thought that this is an anachronism, but this is the first in a series of scenes that montage the passage of the twenty years incarceration. It is not clear how much time has passed between his imprisonment and being framed for the murder of his former partner, from whom he has become estranged for some time, but it is more than a few days and less than a few years given the next chronological news snippet.

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Quotes

Chaney: Let's go motherfucker, me and you, man to man come on. SHIT.
Chaney: You want some get back, let me off this table so you and me can go at it motherfucker. What do you say how about it?

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Connections

Referenced in Everything Wrong with...: Everything Wrong with Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

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Soundtracks

Mia Cello 2
Written and performed by Bruce Hornsby

User Reviews

Desecration

This is not a new adaptation of the same story, this is a bad copy of an existing movie. Most of it is literally copied from "Oldeuboi" (2003), and what was altered was changed to the worse. I suppose there would be no changes at all if there was no American puritanism. Only the sickest things were changed to adjust the movie for the western market, which is best seen in the way they mutilated ending. Spike Lee made a remake so lousy that I don't understand why Samuel L. Jackson had agreed to play in it. The only positive impression on me was left by the sweetness of Elizabeth Olsen, but no matter how much I enjoyed watching her, she failed to make me overlook how much everything else in the film was bad. I have a feeling that today too many movies rely on seduction of the male audience's by beautiful / cute / sexy girls, as well as the female part of it with the handsome actors, and on megalomaniac special effects, while the true values of the seventh art are neglected. This brings fast profits at the cinema box office, but there are fewer and fewer movies that can withstand test of time and not be forgotten as soon as something new comes out. If I had not seen the Korean version, I might have rated this bit higher, but the impression left by the original is too strong to be able to avoid comparing them throughout the whole duration of the remake. And compared to the original, the remake is really poor.

5/10

Details

Official Sites:

Official tumblr

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 November 2013 (USA)

Also Known As:

Oldboy: Le jour de la vengeance

Filming Locations:

New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$30,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$885,382, 1 December 2013

Gross USA:

$2,193,658

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$5,186,767

Company Credits

Production Co:

Good Universe, Vertigo Entertainment, 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks

Technical Specs

Runtime:

104 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital Datasat SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1