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Probably my most favorite performance by Josh Brolin. He plays the part to a T. Sharlton Copley does a great job as the bad guy, Elizabeth Olsen is good as usual and Samuel Jackson was a riot.
Cheap special effects. I think I would've enjoyed the movie more had I not seen the original, but still worth watching.
I like the way they ended this one.
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NickSedario - February 19th, 2014, 5:39am
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DustinBowcot
Posted: February 19th, 2014, 2:16am
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I'll have to check this out. I didn't know they made this. I enjoyed the first one.
As screenwriters, it saddens me a bit that so many of you haven't seen the original Old Boy. Honestly, don't give this remake the time of day. It doesn't deserve your money and/or attention. If you haven't seen the original, watch it asap. And if you have, watch it again. I read a ton of reviews stating how the remake weakens the story and adds nothing to the story.
I saw the original back in 2004. I really liked it. Upon a recent viewing a couple a months back, I didn't think it was as great as I first saw it.
I was ready to hate this. I'm not a fan of Spike Lee But... I thought it wasn't so bad. It was fast paced, it moved well, I think its started to go down hill a bit in the last third. I think it should have been 15 min longer so the story can get a bit more breathing room.
All in all better than I thought. For sure better than the 5.1 rating it has on imdb.
I think the main reason the remake bombed was because the only people interested in seeing the film would have already seen the original, and we all know how reluctant people are to watch adaptions of media which they love.
I saw the original back in 2004. I really liked it. Upon a recent viewing a couple a months back, I didn't think it was as great as I first saw it.
I was the exact opposite. When I originally saw it when it came out I really hated the final act and the twist made me feel dirty, lol. When I rewatched it a few years later, I actually loved the twist. So what does that say about me...? :O
As screenwriters, it saddens me a bit that so many of you haven't seen the original Old Boy. Honestly, don't give this remake the time of day. It doesn't deserve your money and/or attention. If you haven't seen the original, watch it asap. And if you have, watch it again.
Amen.
What are your thoughts on the rest of the Vengeance Trilogy, AP? Also, have you watched any films by a Korean director called Na Hong-jin (either The Chaser or The Yellow Sea)? If not, I cannot recommend these highly enough. Now that we're on the topic of South Korean films, I rewatched Kim Ji-woon's masterpiece, A Bittersweet Life, again last night... forgot how brilliant that is! I honestly think the post burial fight in that film rivals the tremendous corridor fight sequence in Oldboy.
I was the exact opposite. When I originally saw it when it came out I really hated the final act and the twist made me feel dirty, lol. When I rewatched it a few years later, I actually loved the twist. So what does that say about me...? :O
I loved the twist as well. In a non dirty kind of way .
The twist in the original is far better than the one in the remake. It's more personal. In the remake you kind of feel the twist is forced and perverted in order to get a reaction. That's at least my take.
I still think that the original is one of the more clever movies that has come out in the past 20 years.
I think it's fine so long as only the concept is taken and remade in a completely original way... clever references to the original is as far as one should go. My script Amelia is basically the Oliver Twist concept... but is its own original story. I've had an Irish company interested in making it which came as a surprise. Murder of Crows uses Daphne duMaurier's The Birds concept... but again is an original story in itself. I'm writing another similar story now, based on an ancient concept just with my own original twist.
If you're not completely remixing then it is nothing more than cashing in. Sequels are the same... they should bring something new but are often just carbon copies of what we've already seen. The writers should be ashamed. Or maybe it isn't their fault... maybe to get paid they have to do as they're told.
I think it's fine so long as only the concept is taken and remade in a completely original way... clever references to the original is as far as one should go.
I agree.
Lets say I was doing the Oldboy remake I won't add the hallway scene. I think it's just stupid to include something so special to the original. You'll never top it, even if you do, people will always bring up the original scene. No matter what you do with it, it will never stand on it's own, it will always be linked to the original scene. So you really can't win either way. Just drop it and try to think of something else to do, add some kind of new twist.
Let's start by saying I am far from a fan of the original, and although I've tried many times, still never made it through the entire movie.
I watched this reimaging over the weekend and was so far from impressed, it's shocking.
I don't know where to begin even, but I guess I'll get this off my chest - the plot and everything attached to the plot is absolutely ludicrous. To say it's unbelievable or unrealistic is like saying water is wet.
Absolutely nothing here is believable. Everything here is poor story telling with all reasoning thrown into a blender with every plot contrivance known to mankind added a seasoning. I could actually discuss this aspect for days - it's that silly...it's that downright stupid.
I don't want to ruin the big twist here, so please head the SPOILER warning if you haven't seen it or haven't heard what happens...but...what happens and what the big twist is, is something so ludicrous (again), that your eyes will hurt from rolling them so many times.
To think that the big sex scene would go down between these 2 characters is foolish and story telling at its most immature. Almost everything here just defies logic and to think that our villian could/would plan this whole thing out and have it work to perfection is like fucking a whore and thinking she really likes you. Really?
Even the famed fight scene is foolish...in this remake and the original. What were all the idiot goons using to hit him? plywood?
Sorry OLdboy fans, but this entire story is preposterous, silly, goofy, completely unbelievable, and so overrated, it makes me angry.
Lighten up, Jeff. The movie wasn't that bad. Especially coming from someone (such as yourself) who didn't even like the original. Could it be it's just not your cup of tea?
Lighten up, Jeff. The movie wasn't that bad. Especially coming from someone (such as yourself) who didn't even like the original. Could it be it's just not your cup of tea?
The original is a cinematic masterpiece, btw.
We all have our own opinions and that's what makes the world go 'round, but for me, it's the very premise of this movie that kills it no matter what kind of masterpiece it is or who's behind it.
The premise does not work in any way. It's absolutely silly at its core, which makes everything that follows equally silly, or actually more silly.
But on top of that, it's so dull, so ugly, so depressing.
There is an awfulo lot of interesting info on IMDB about casting this and who smartly turned down roles and involvement.
This was an utter bomb at the BO and although that doesn't always tell the whole story, or even the correct story, it sure does in this case. $30 Million was spent, and the WWBO take was a whopping $5 Million, which is obviously a complete and utter embarrassment.
The premise does not work in any way. It's absolutely silly at its core, which makes everything that follows equally silly, or actually more silly.
In this instance, I believe there is a cultural aspect at play, and it is story that would speak a little deeper to the Korean audience when viewed through their prism of experience.
Doesn't mean you are not allowed to find it silly and OTT. Just saying.
You may be correct, Bert, but I'm still pretty clueless here and maybe I missed something.
So (in the 2013 version of the flick), Joe is imprisoned in 1993 and held for 20 years. How is it remotely possible or plausible that the Stranger/Adrian Pryce even finds Joe, years after college (where the incident took place), and then how is it remotely plausible that he happens to live in the same city, and Joe's daughter also lives right there as well?
Peeps move around nowadays, especially in the US of A and anyone that buys into this central plotpoint, to me, is being pretty simplistic and foolish.
Even the fact that Chucky still runs his same bar 20 years later isn't very likely, is it?
FOr me, the whole thing was so shoehorned and completely unbelievable, it angered me to think the original is considered to be a classic.