Oldboy (2013)

One of the greatest problems with remakes is that they inherently invite comparison to the original film.  This is especially true when a remake heavily references the original.  This only serves to make the audience more aware of the existence of another film and takes the viewer out of the moment.  The heaviest criticism that can be lobbied at a remake is "Why?"  Why bother making the same movie twice?  It's not a new thing.  Hollywood has been recycling its films since the beginning.  Usually, the results are abysmal cash grabs.  Sometimes the result is better than the original.  David Cronenberg's The Fly and The Thing are often used as prime examples and even The Maltese Falcon is the third version of its story.  Remakes are widely viewed as unnecessary unless they can surpass their predecessors.  Only a couple remakes fail to live up to the originals, yet still remain interesting: Vanilla Sky, The Ring, and Insomnia come to mind.

The best remakes take the most basic ideas from the original and introduce an entirely new set of themes to it.  This helps create the impression that the new version is its own movie.  Viewing a familiar concept through a wholly new and interesting filter makes that concept fresh and exciting.  New ideas are not an automatic recipe for success, however.  There have been four very different versions of Invasion of the Body Snatchers.  The first two are nearly flawless, the third is interesting, and the fourth is really boring.

Where am I going with all this?  Well, Oldboy is a remake of a 2003 Korean film of the same name.  This new version tries to have the it both ways.  It tries to take the same concept in a new direction, yet it also insists on constant "shout outs" to the original film.

It's kinda understandable, really.  The original Oldboy casts a long shadow.  It may very well be the greatest film in South Korean history (cue intense movie nerd debate).  Director Spike Lee and screenwriter Mark Protosevich (immensely talented people) know that their film can't just tread the same ground as the original.  Some remakes try the same formula that sequels use, namely go bigger than the original.  Anyone who has seen Oldboy '03 knows that that movie goes about as big as a movie can go, so that idea is difficult to achieve.  The ultimate solution that seems to have been settled on for the English language Oldboy is to make a film that is stylistically opposite that of the original's director, Chan-Wook Park. 

Park's film is economical and minimal.  It's cold and calculated.  This helps make the more bombastic, extreme moments all that more shocking.  Oldboy '03 is a film that operates on the belief that less is more.  The remake operates as if more is more.  But remember that the original is so crazy and gross and powerful that little is left to have more of.  So, the remake interprets "more is more" as "longer is more."  The iconic hallway fight from the original isn't bigger and more violent; it's longer.  The hero's imprisonment isn't more maddening; it's longer.  The climax isn't crazier or more disturbing; it's longer.  The result isn't a film that justifies its existence.  It's a film that becomes fairly tedious despite some lurid subject matter.

To some degree, however, I feel that Spike Lee's Oldboy needs to be appraised on its own terms, that it is somewhat unfair to only judge it comparatively.  So, how is Oldboy '13 as a stand alone movie?  It's not bad.  Spike Lee tries several different cinematic styles during the course of the film.  They don't always work together, but individually they make for some well made scenes.  The performances are good enough.  Nothing special.  It's a better than average movie that retains much of the disturbing concepts (although much tamer) that make the original so (in)famous.

I wouldn't say to avoid it, but I would suggest that you watch the original first.  It's streaming on Netflix through the end of the month.  Go in knowing as little as possible and you will be blown away by it.  Then, once you've finished the 2003 version, if you're in the mood for more of that same kind of thing, watch the new one.  But you'd be doing yourself a disservice if you watched the 2013 version and decided that you didn't need anymore.  Basically, if you're going to watch one, watch the original.

6 out of 10