Oldboy Directed by: Spike Lee Starring: Josh Brolin, Elizabeth Olsen, Sharlto Copley Rating: R Release Date: November 27, 2013
Trailer Score: 8/10
Thoughts by TSR: Park Chan-wook’s Oldboy is a terrific film, and an English language version is hardly necessary. Regardless, Spike Lee took it upon himself to give us one anyway, darn it, and you know what? It looks pretty good. I haven’t seen the original in a while, but this feels pretty similar. I imagine Spike Lee will be making it his own in some way. For now, though, seeing these actors and this director tackling the material is all this trailer needs to be a success.
Josh Brolin looks fantastic as the film’s main character. From the moment he’s introduced in a very confused state and spends 20 years wasting away – a fantastically put together sequence in this trailer – until the end when he’s reveling in the horrible things he’s about to do to Samuel L. Jackson, Brolin nails it. Choi Min-sik’s Dae-su is very memorable, and Brolin seems to be doing the role (well, the Americanized version named Joe Ducett) proud. The hammer sequence is one that immediately springs to mind when thinking of the original film. Here we only get a couple glimpses of it, but Spike Lee seems to be handling it – along with everything else – with style. While seeing Elizabeth Olsen, Michael Imperioli, and Samuel L. Jackson’s mohawk is nice, I would have loved to see Sharlto Copley. His voice on the phone is good enough.
Oldboy's release date was just moved from October 25 to November 27. That simply means we have the next Spike Lee joint to look forward to this Thanksgiving rather than this Halloween.