Every now and then, an American Company decides to remake a foreign movie, hoping to cater the idea to Western audiences. Unfortunately, more often than not, the original spirit and charm of the movie gets lost in the adaptation, leading to a hollow film, and plenty of annoyed and disgruntled fans. So, when the American remake of the mystery-thriller Oldboy was announced, fans erupted, wondering if the South Korean masterpiece would be ‘ruined’ by Western filmmakers. With the release of the initial trailer online occurring only a few days ago, fans are still pondering the question: will Oldboy be ruined by Americans?
The original film was released back in 2003, and was directed by Park Chan-wook and starred Choi Min-sik. It followed the story of businessman Oh Dae-su (Choi), who, on the night of his daughter’s birthday, gets kidnapped, and is held in solitary confinement for 15 years. After years of being imprisoned without explanation, he is suddenly released. Free for the first time in over a decade, he embarks on a quest for revenge against his mysterious captor. He soon finds himself trapped in a mystery concerning an event from his past, and he realizes he must figure out the horrifying truth of why exactly he was imprisoned in the first place.
When the film was first released, it received major critical acclaim from both local and foreign critics alike. It was praised by many noted critics for its deep, compelling, and unique story, as well as its fresh and exciting cinematography. Furthermore, it managed to get nominated for, and win, several awards, the most major of which was the Grand Prix Award at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival.
The movie was not your average thriller; it was not just violence and action, although it had plenty of these aspects as well. What made it special was that it managed to thrill its audience psychologically as well, raising plenty of intriguing questions in the viewers’ minds. It managed to do all this while delivering excellent action, through the use of well-choreographed fight scenes combined with unique and interesting direction. The action complemented the film’s intensity well, and helped make the movie even more entertaining. While it is not for everybody, all these things established Oldboy as a cult classic, and one of the most powerful movies in South Korean history.
Fast forward 10 years, and many fans are now worried that the intense psychological thriller will be watered down and ruined, as director Spike Lee takes on the American adaptation of Oldboy. Fans are worried that, as with other American remakes of Asian franchises, the very things that made the movie so great in the first place will get lost in translation.
It’s happened before, movies like Dragonball Evolution and My Sassy Girl are examples of how Americans take Asian franchises, and end up delivering half-hearted adaptations that anger the fans. Dragonball Evolution took the beloved anime franchise of Dragonball and removed all the epic, intense action, and replaced it with confusing story elements and subpar acting. My Sassy Girl was a remake of the romantic-comedy of the same name, although it was without all the charm and wittiness of the original. Both remakes were denied by fans and critics alike, and were considered overall failures.
Will Oldboy suffer the same fate? Right now, it’s hard to tell. Posters and teasers have been revealed, and an initial trailer has been released, and there is promise that the remake will find the right balance of staying true enough to the original while adding its own different spin to the idea. However, it’s easy for this potential to fall flat on its face. The movie may end up being too similar to the original, which is unoriginal and boring. On the other hand, it may end up too different, which will anger fans of the original. It is a difficult task to strike the right balance.
For now, fans will wait with baited breath to see if Spike Lee’s Oldboy will be the one to break the trend of American remakes being ill-received. Will the movie live up to the trailer’s potential, and be the one to break the trend, or will this film end up a commercial failure like other American remakes before it? Only time will tell.
