OLDBOY – (2013) – Movie Review ★★★¾
Cast – Josh Brolin, Elizabeth Olsen, Samuel L Jackson and Sharlto Copley – the film is a remake of Chan-wook Park’s 2003 Korean masterpiece directed by Malcolm X’s Spike Lee – the year is 1993 and Joe Doucett (Brolin) is a not a very nice guy, he’s a drunk and a father of a three year old he never visits – after a business meeting goes south Doucett get’s drunk and crawls through the neighborhood looking for someone to share his miserable insistence with – the next morning he wakes up in a strange bed, in a room that contains a shower and TV but no door or exit – it then dawns on Doucett that he has been kidnapped and locked in some kind of solitary confinement and there he spends the next 20 years of his life, writing letters of regret to his daughter and thinking of nothing else but seeking vengeance on his captors VERDICT let’s be honest Spike Lee was on a hiding to nothing when attempting to remake one of the finest Korean movies in decades – but in fairness Lee’s remake is a descent thriller that not only looks stylish but has some classy nods to it’s original and a performance by Josh Brolin that has you purring right to the end credits – my favorite scene in the movie has to be the devlishly fun, over the top fight scene with Brolin’s character facing down dozens of baddies – my only negative about Spike Lee’s remake is that if you have seen the original then you know the punchline and know when it’s coming so sadly that blow to the gut you may would have felt during the original movie is reduced to a slight whimper – overall OLDBOY is an enjoyable, extremely violent and well acted movie remake – it’s also Spike Lee’s best directed movie since 2006’s Inside Man and one I’d certainly recommend….
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