Obsessed with vengeance, a man sets out to find out why he was kidnapped and locked into solitary confinement for 20 years without reason.
Oldboy is lively but numb — checked out, as if Lee were directing it following a period of intense convalescence.
2013's Oldboy is not totally devoid of style or ideas but it would be foolish to suggest that this should be seen first, if at all. Frankly Lee can do much better than this pale imitation.
Lee and his cameraman film from the floor, the ceiling, the drainpipes: anywhere to lend novelty, or fresh perspective, to tired, trashy material.
This Oldboy is another pointless remake, and I couldn't swallow it.
To its credit, Spike Lee’s remake isn’t a slavish imitation. On the other hand, its grit is a grey substitute for the original’s vision and verve. Disappointing.
Accept the excesses, though, and the film has a lot going for it.
Lacking the visual pizzazz of its predecessor which was drenched in the dreamy/ nightmarish hues of mythical allegory, this altogether more mundane rendering merely draws attention to the gaping holes in the incestuous narrative which duly unravels before us.
At best Lee’s Oldboy benefits from Brolin’s anguished performance, and isn’t unduly damaged by Sharlto Copley playing a villain with the elan of a Pirate King at panto time. It’s a Chinese dumpling of a film – quite greasily and guiltily tasty, but not the sort of meal you’ll remember much about the following day.
Spike Lee might pile on oodles of ultra-violence, but he tries to make the sick twist at the heart of the film more palatable with a redemptive ending out of kilter with its South Korean source material.
Spike Lee on Oldboy, America's violent history and the fine art of mouthing off
General release. Check local listings for show times.
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