![]() ![]() Through television news reports, he learns that his ex-wife has been murdered and he has been framed as the killer. With no explanation as to who has imprisoned him or why, he remains in captivity for the next twenty years. Here’s the film’s setup: After a night of binge drinking, ad executive Joe Doucett (Josh Brolin) finds himself locked in a small room. If this is the response Spike Lee’s Oldboy wrings from the uninitiated, then surely he’s done something right. Oh no.” As the lights came up he paused in the aisle, looking around at the rest of us as if to say, “Did you see that?” He seemed like he needed someone to talk to, and I’m kind of ashamed that I didn’t just acknowledge him by saying something like, “Crazy, huh?” as I walked by. Throughout the entire climactic scene, in which our protagonist finally confronts the man responsible for his imprisonment, he sort of giggled nervously, ceasing only to mutter, “Oh no. And luckily enough, he had no qualms about audibly reacting to the film as it progressed. I was fortunate enough to have such a person sitting behind me. Going into the remake with our minds pre-blown gives us the luxury of picking apart the little pieces of the film, because we’re not as invested in the overarching story.īut what of those who haven’t seen the original Oldboy, those mall wanderers and date-nighters, squishing down in their parka-draped seats, slurping their Sprites and sucking their buttery fingertips with no clue about what they’re getting themselves into? What would their experience of this movie be? After that we are reduced to exposing unsuspecting peers to the film and living vicariously through their reactions. ![]() We can only have that visceral, nauseating, exhilarating first experience of Oldboy once. ![]() Because shock plays such a huge role in the experience of Oldboy, to more or less know what’s coming fundamentally shifts the way in which we watch the movie. And surely, it’s impossible for those of us who have seen Chan-wook Park’s original Oldboy to really have a pure view of Lee’s remake. Remaking a foreign film is a dubious task. There’s just one problem: It’s a remake of an even tenser, more shocking psychological thriller that has already had people talking for the better part of a decade. Spike Lee’s Oldboy is a tense, shocking, psychological thriller that will keep you riveted from start to finish. ![]()
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