Oldboy (2013)
TOMATOMETER
AUDIENCE SCORE
Critic Consensus: 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.
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Movie Info
OLDBOY is a provocative, visceral thriller that follows the story of Joe Doucette, a man who is abruptly kidnapped and held hostage for 20 years in solitary confinement, for no apparent reason. When he is suddenly released without explanation, he begins an obsessive mission to find out who imprisoned him, only to discover that the real mystery is why he was set free. Co-starring Elizabeth Olsen and Sharlto Copley, OLDBOY was directed by Spike Lee, from a script by Mark Protosevich (I Am Legend, … More
| Rating: | R (for strong brutal violence, disturbing images, some graphic sexuality and nudity, and language) |
| Genre: | Drama, Action & Adventure, Mystery & Suspense |
| Directed By: | Spike Lee |
| Written By: | Mark Protosevich |
| In Theaters: | Nov 27, 2013 Wide |
| On DVD: | Mar 4, 2014 |
| Box Office: | $2.2M |
| Runtime: |
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LoginCritic Reviews for Oldboy
All Critics (138) | Top Critics (40) | Fresh (57) | Rotten (81) | DVD (1)
Everything is wrong with [Spike] Lee's version of Park Chan-wook's notorious, super-violent super-action-thriller. For one thing, it's far from super. Not the quality, per se (although, for Lee, that's off, too), but the energy.
Compared directly, the difference between both films are more than a little disappointing, but with all of that said, 2013's Oldboy still has pleasures to be witnessed.
Lee takes his time crafting fiery characters and an impenetrable, who-and-why mystery only to rush through a series of arbitrary clues and explanations.
For a "pointless" and "unnecessary" remake, there's actually some really solid stuff in this one.
Sloppy when taken on its own and abhorrent when compared to its predecessor.
Park Chan-wook's movie was a delirious nightmare whose ideas and images stuck like burrs in the mind. Lee's remake is all too forgettable.
Audience Reviews for Oldboy
I haven't seen the Korean original, but what I saw here was a plot driven sonuvagun that takes no prisoners (whatever fans of the original might spout). Josh Brolin is the best I've ever seen him in this tale of revenge, and revenge again, that's rough to watch unless you were born in a prison, and maybe even if you were. Sharlto Copley is making a career playing bad guys, but at least this one has a rationale going for him which is well played. And Samuel L. Jackson ... what need be said?
Super Reviewer
Josh Brolin is an extremely bad choice for the role of the protagonist. Besides, the execution is too weak, and is bound to disappoint regardless of having already watched the original or not.
Super Reviewer
Perhaps those are problems created by the heavy editing of Lee's cut, but this unnecessary and watered-down remake not only doesn't add anything new to the exceptional Korean film but is also full of plot holes and makes its jaw-dropping twist in the end seem only ludicrous.
Super Reviewer
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