Oldboy (2013 film)
Oldboy is a 2013 American neo-noir action thriller film directed by Spike Lee and with a screenplay by Mark Protosevich. It stars Josh Brolin, Elizabeth Olsen, Sharlto Copley and Samuel L. Jackson in the lead roles. The film is an official remake, or as labeled by Lee a "reinterpretation", of Park Chan-wook's 2003 South Korean film of the same name. Both are adapted from a Japanese manga of the same name.
The film was released on November 27, 2013. It was the last film to be distributed by FilmDistrict, before Focus Features absorbed the company in October 2013. It received a mixed reception from both critics and audiences, with praise for the acting and visual style, but was criticized in relation to Park's film. Lee was criticized for not using creative choices to differentiate his work, in essence to justify why he made it. The film was a box office bomb; it had one of the worst box office performances of Lee's directing career.
Plot
In 1993, alcoholic advertising executive Joe Doucett gets drunk after losing a major account. Before he passes out, he sees a woman with a yellow umbrella. When he wakes, he finds himself locked in a hotel room. His unseen captors provide him food, alcohol and personal hygiene items but do not explain why he is held captive. Joe sees a news report saying his ex-wife Donna was raped and murdered and that he is the prime suspect. Their 3-year-old daughter Mia was adopted through the welfare system.Over the next 20 years, Joe quits drinking and gets into shape, intent on escaping and getting revenge. He compiles a list of all those who might want to imprison him, and writes letters to eventually give to Mia. One day, he sees a televised interview with Mia, who says she would forgive her father if she ever saw him.
Joe is drugged shortly thereafter. When he wakes, he is outside in the streets, with a cellphone and a small amount of money. He spots the woman with the yellow umbrella and gives chase, but encounters Marie Sebastian, a nurse who offers to help. He refuses but takes her business card. Joe goes to his friend Chucky, and explains what has taken place. While there, Joe receives a call on the cellphone from a man calling himself the "Stranger," who mocks him. Joe spends a great deal of effort, with no success, to determine if any of the men on his list is the Stranger. Joe collapses from dehydration, and Chucky calls Marie to help. While he recovers, Marie is moved emotionally by Joe's letters to Mia and offers to help him further. She helps him identify a Chinese restaurant which supplied his food while he was held captive.
Joe follows a delivery from the restaurant to a warehouse where he was imprisoned, and meets Chaney, its owner. Joe tortures Chaney by flaying his neck with a Stanley knife, and he confesses that the Stranger arranged for Joe's captivity. Upon returning to Chucky's bar, Joe finds the Stranger there with the woman with the yellow umbrella, his bodyguard Haeng-bok. The Stranger says they have kidnapped Mia, but if Joe can determine his identity in 46 hours, he'll release Mia, give Joe $20 million in diamonds and proof of his innocence in Donna's murder, and will commit suicide.
Joe learns that Chaney and his men are seeking revenge by attacking Marie. After racing to her place, he is captured by Chaney. Just as Chaney is about to beat him savagely, the Stranger calls Chaney and offers to pay him for Joe's release. Chaney releases Joe and Marie. She recognizes the ringtone from the Stranger's call as the theme song of Evergreen Academy, which Joe had attended. At the school, they look through yearbooks; Joe recognizes a student, Adrian Doyle Pryce, and recalls tormenting his sister Amanda, for her promiscuity.
Their father Arthur is revealed to have sexually abused both his children. Arthur moved his family to Luxembourg, where he later murdered his wife and Amanda, severely wounded Adrian, and committed suicide. Adrian, who has convinced himself that his father's abuse was an expression of love, blames the destruction of his family on Joe having revealed their secret. Joe calls Chucky with the name, who confirms that Adrian is the Stranger. When Chucky insults Amanda in conversation, Adrian, who is listening on a cloned cellphone, garrots him to death with piano wire before Joe reaches him. Joe receives a package; he opens it to find Chucky's tongue. Joe hides Marie in a hotel for her safety. There they have passionate sex, unaware that Adrian is watching through hidden cameras.
Joe goes to Adrian's penthouse, kills Haeng-bok by slitting her throat, and confronts Adrian. Adrian congratulates him, gives him the diamonds, and escorts him to where Mia is. Adrian taunts Joe with questioning why he was released at all; his tormentor shows that the interview with "Mia" was a setup; that woman was a paid actress. Adrian demonstrates that Marie is really Joe's own daughter; Adrian wanted Joe to know what it felt like to lose everything. Adrian commits suicide by shooting himself in the mouth.
Horrified, Joe writes Marie a letter saying they can never see each other again. He leaves her most of the diamonds, using the rest to pay Chaney to return him to the captivity of the hotel room.
Cast
- Josh Brolin as Joe Doucett
- * Grey Damon as Young Joe Doucett
- Elizabeth Olsen as Mia Doucett / Marie Sebastian
- Sharlto Copley as Adrian Doyle Pryce / The Stranger
- * Erik Gersovitz as Young Adrian Pryce
- Samuel L. Jackson as Chaney
- Michael Imperioli as Chucky
- * Brett Lapeyrouse as Young Chucky
- James Ransone as Dr. Tom Melby
- Max Casella as James Prestley
- Linda Emond as Edwina Burke
- Pom Klementieff as Haeng-Bok
- Elvis Nolasco as Cortez
- Lance Reddick as Daniel Newcombe
- Hannah Ware as Donna Hawthorne
- Richard Portnow as Bernie Sharkey
- Hannah Simone as Stephanie Lee
- Lizzy DeClement as Amanda Pryce
- Caitlin Dulany as Emma Pryce
- Cinqué Lee as Bellhop
- Rami Malek as Browning
- Ciera Payton as Capri
Production
Early development
An American remake of Oldboy previously had director Justin Lin attached. In November 2008, DreamWorks and Universal were securing the rights to the remake, which Will Smith had expressed interest in starring, with Steven Spielberg as director. Mark Protosevich was in talks to write the script, although the acquisition to the remake rights were not finalized. Smith later clarified that Spielberg would not be remaking the film: he would be adapting the manga itself, which is considerably different from the film. In June 2009, the comic's publisher launched a lawsuit against the Korean film's producers for giving the film rights to Spielberg without their permission. Later in November 2009, it was reported that DreamWorks, Spielberg and Smith had stepped back from the project. The producing team announced on 10 November 2009 that the project was dead.Director and casting
On July 11, 2011, Mandate Pictures sent a press release stating that Spike Lee would direct a remake of the South Korean film with a screenplay written by Protosevich. Josh Brolin was cast to star in the remake as the lead character, while Christian Bale was reportedly in talks to portray the antagonist character, but it was later reported that Colin Firth had been offered the role. Firth later passed on the role, which was later offered to Clive Owen. In May 2012, Deadline reported that Sharlto Copley had officially been cast as the villain Adrian Pryce. Elizabeth Olsen, Samuel L. Jackson and Nate Parker were all later announced to have joined the cast. Parker was later replaced by James Ransone, due to a scheduling conflict. The film marked Jackson's first time working with director Lee since 1991's Jungle Fever.Principal photography began in October 2012.
Final cut editing
Spike Lee's version was 140 minutes long, but the producers heavily re-edited the film to 105 minutes ; Lee and Josh Brolin were unhappy with it. Lee even removed his trademark "A Spike Lee Joint" credit for a more impersonal "A Spike Lee Film" during the editing process. Brolin has also said in an interview with the Los Angeles Times that he prefers Lee's version of the film, though it is not clear if this cut will ever be released.Release
Critical reception
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 40% based on 149 reviews, with an average rating of 5.1/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Suitably grim and bloody yet disappointingly safe and shallow, Spike Lee's Oldboy remake neither surpasses the original nor adds anything new to its impressive legacy." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 49 out of 100, based on 41 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".Matt Zoller Seitz of RogerEbert.com gives three of four stars, saying: "Because the Internet moves with the speed and ferocity of a hornet swarm, there's a chance that by the time you read this, Spike Lee's American remake of Oldboy will already have been stung to death. If so, too bad. This American version of Park Chan-Wook's Korean thriller is Lee's most exciting movie since Inside Man—not a masterpiece by any stretch, but a lively commercial genre picture with a hypnotic, obsessive quality, and an utter indifference to being liked, much less approved of."
Justin Chang of Variety said that "Lee and Protosevich have made a picture that, although several shades edgier than the average Hollywood thriller, feels content to shadow its predecessor's every move while falling short of its unhinged, balls-out delirium." Michael Phillips of The Chicago Tribune, in a one and a half star review noted that "The revenge in Oldboy is neither sweet nor sour; it's just drab".
Eric Kohn, in a largely positive review at Indiewire said: "It's been so long since Lee made such a thoroughly amusing work that fans should have no problem excusing its messiness. But make no mistake... Oldboy is all over the place, sometimes playing like a subdued melodrama and elsewhere erupting into flamboyance and gore."