The Flickering Myth writing team sit down to discuss the trailer for Spike Lee’s American remake of Oldboy….
Ah remakes. They’re now an integral part of our film watching experience. Not a year goes by where we don’t hear rumours of new films that are actually films we’ve seen before.
Yesterday saw the release of the first red band trailer for Spike Lee’s Americanisation of Oldboy which stars Josh Brolin (Men in Black 3), Elizabeth Olsen (Godzilla), Sharlto Copley (Elysium), Samuel L. Jackson (Django Unchained), Richard Portnow (Law Abiding Citizen), Michael Imperioli (The Sopranos) and Lance Reddick (The Wire).
But what did the Flickering Myth writing staff think of it?
Martin Deer: Seen a lot of positivity surrounding the trailer, have to be honest and say it didn’t do anything for me. Something just felt off. Didn’t inspire me. Brolin looks like he could put in a great performance, but if this wasn’t a remake of a great film (which doesn’t lose it’s quality or standing just because its being remade), I wouldn’t be that interested at this point. Or maybe it’s because it’s a remake that I felt nothing for the trailer, little hard to tell
Anthony Stokes: I think it’s easy to forget how great of a director Spike Lee is. I haven’t seen the original, but I love the premise and the direction and cinematography are strong in the trailer, colour me interested.
J-P Wooding: The trailer looked very similar to the original which is such a classic film. The whole subtitles, foreign essence & shock value of the film and it’s production were part of its attraction and originality (as far as I’m concerned.) It’s in a no-win scenario though. If it’s a good interpretation, it’ll have lost nothing. If it’s poor then it will be taken apart by the original Oldboy. In doing so it may become another example of why many remakes are a waste.
Anghus Houvouras: I saw Chan-wook Park’s Oldboy in Austin, Texas at the Butt-Numb-A-Thon, the annual Aint it Cool 24 Hour film festival and I was blown away. By far the most amazing theatrical experience I ever had. Since then, I have read all 8 volumes of the Oldboy Manga and watched the movie at least twenty times. It is one of the three best movies ever made. Every time I heard Hollywood circling the idea of a remake, I cringed. I winced. I shook my head and waited for the inevitable shit pile that Hollywood would inevitably spew out. But then I watched the trailer for Spike Lee’s Oldboy… and I kind of loved it. Great trailer. The movie looks ridiculously faithful to the movie, down to the colour pallet which is interesting. I’m curious to see how much Chan-wook Park survives the translation and how much of an imprint Spike Lee is able to make. For the record, I also consider Do the Right Thing one of the best movies ever made. I’m apprehensive, but this trailer did a lot to quell my panicked nerves
Rohan Morbey: Nice to see Spike Lee leaving politics out of his films for a change… Oh, hold on…
Brogan Jameson Morris: As the only person on Earth ever who didn’t like the original Oldboy, I’m not too bothered that someone has remade it. Still, from the trailer, it looks like the remake is overly-reverential to the original – why remake something if you’re just going to do the exact same thing? That said, I think Josh Brolin deserves more leading roles that he can get his teeth into (he’s definitely carving himself out a career path as some sort of new age Lee Marvin), and this could be a particularly meaty one. It doesn’t look like Spike Lee has dialled down the disturb factor of the original either – I just hope he doesn’t somehow use the film as yet another outlet for his confused views on race.
Oliver Davis: There’s a bit where he sees a video of his daughter grown-up talking about him (“Your father’s been missing for 20 years…”) If he knows what she looks like, doesn’t that mean the big twist at the end won’t happen?
If so, screw you Hollywood.
Helen Murdoch: As a trailer on it’s own it looks fantastic but having loved the original I think it’ll pale in comparison. Good to see Spike Lee taking on something so challenging though.
As Oliver said though, it does seem like they’ve got rid of the twist!
Ozzy Armstrong: Disgustingly it looks as though they are going to borrow very heavily from Park Chan-wook’s original and that I can’t excuse.
As good as The Departed is, it’s still exactly the same film as Infernal Affairs and I think Oldboy will be no different (see hammer scene, torture scene et al). The trailer may have been alright but as I’ve seen the original, I am in no way interested for this.
As far as the story goes, it will be different as they’re basing it on the original source material.
Luke Owen: I predicted upon the remake rumours years back that they’d change the ending because I just couldn’t see *that* ending working for a quote unquote “mainstream audience”.
As for the trailer. I should hate it for being a remake etc, but I actually didn’t like it because it looked a bit boring. Maybe I wasn’t in the right mindframe to watch it and therefore it didn’t grab me, but it just felt a bit…. boring.
Anthony Stokes: There’s a twist in the original? Might have to check it out. To be honest I’m a little squeamish with certain acts of violence even the American trailer grossed me out a little that’s the only reason I haven’t seen it.
Luke Owen: Having now watched it a second time, I wouldn’t say it’s boring – but it just seems like a pointless exercise. Like Gus Van Sant’s Psycho. If you’re not adding anything new other than removing the subtitles, what’s really the point?
Also, I figure that *spoilers* that’s not his daughter on the screen.
Rohan Morbey: Remember when the rumour was Will Smith and Steven Spielberg doing the remake? What utter nonsense that was.
Villordsutch: I remember a few years back when this remake was discussed. The chatter was that Gary Oldman was attached and even with that weight behind it I wondered a big ‘Why!?’. Watching this trailer I’m wondering it again.
I don’t know if it’s because I can be, occasionally, regarded as a film snob but I don’t want the world to watch a remade version of this classic and have the belief that they have seen Oldboy.
If the world cannot be arsed to watch the original Oldboy then they shouldn’t be allowed to watch it at all.
Jake Wardle: Regarding the twist, I’m pretty sure I’ve read interviews with Olsen et al implying that the ‘family spirit’ of the original is very much still there, and more so, which seems weird. The trailer’s okay, and I’ll see it if the buzz is good, but foreign-language-to-English remakes ate and forever will be totally redundant, regardless of who’s involved, and especially when the originals so perfect on it’s own (unlike, say, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, or even Infernal Affairs)
Anthony Stokes: If nothing else if the movie is good it’ll turn American audiences towards the original which is always a good thing
Luke Owen: Should they have to remake movies just to get people to watch the original? That really makes no sense to me.
Martin Deer: I don’t think audiences will seek out the original if they like the remake, I don’t think that’s how people work at all. If there were going to see it they would. I can’t imagine many saw De Palmas Scarface and thought, ill check out the original. That’s not how I thought until a few years ago and I love films. They probably won’t even be aware there’s another version.
Remakes are fine, if they add something new – Carpenter’s The Thing for example. Many don’t though as there isn’t much to add and being creative isn’t what remakes are about it general; they’re about easy money.
Luke Owen: Exactly. This isn’t The Fly. This looks like the same movie with a different soundtrack.
So a mostly negative reaction, many citing that remaking the film without adding anything is a pointless exercise. However there are a couple that are ready to be swept in for the movie. What did you make of the trailer? Let us know in the comments below….
Oldboy opens on October 2th ahead of it’s December 6th release in the UK.
