In one of the key scenes of this 2013 version of ‘Oldboy‘, the Bad Guy asks the film’s hero two questions. Correct answers in a limited time are conditions of his survival. Furthermore, the villain points out to him that there is one more question, one that has not been asked, that is just as critical. Well, I think one more question should be added to these three: why did Spike Lee decide to direct this remake, a decade after the Korean original directed by Park Chan-wook became the centerpiece of a successful trilogy based on theme of revenge? That was an original and mysterious film, a game of mirrors in which violence met art to make us think – at the first opportunity after catching our breath – about the absurdity of existence and futility of any attempt to put order and find meaning in the string of coincidences and mazes that is life. Yet, I find that Spike Lee‘s ‘Oldboy‘ is not a bad movie. If it was not a remake of a great movie, and if the director hadn’t been named Spike Lee, it probably would have been more appreciated. But the bar was already raised very high.
I have no problem with remakes, especially good ones. But here something is not working. It may be related to casting. Josh Brolin is an actor who has proven in a few other movies that he can act well, but in this ‘Oldboy‘ he acts in the lead role (the name of the caracter is Joe Docett) as if he was acting as Steven Seagal acting as Joe Docett. The female partner is Elizabeth Olsen, beautiful and talented, perhaps the best of the cast, but she is also very at unease, the relationship between the two fails to convince (perhaps on purpose?). The most terrible performance, however, is that of South African actor Sharlto Copley, whose ‘bad guy’ looks straight out of an old comics book. Samuel L. Jackson also appears, perhaps because he is friends with Spike Lee, perhaps to remind us that most of the director’s films deal with issues of racial inequality in America, a subject completely ignored by the script of this film.
The film’s other main problem is its lack of nuance and the simplistic treatment of the theme. The mystery is missing, the constant intellectual game between the story and the viewer that was the center of interest in the original version of the film is missing. This ‘Oldboy‘ is simply a good action movie. That’s not a small thing, and fans of films of this genre, and especially those who do not pay attention to the nuances of interpretation or who prefer a plain story, where everything is explained immediately or soon after it appears on the screen, have a good chance to like this film. The rest of us will be looking for other Spike Lee movies.