Just saw the Oldboy remake.

[Viazon]

This was by no means a bad movie. However, it was certainly unnecessary. I am one guy who has never minded remakes. People get so butt hurt about it but it has never bother me. Sometimes there are more than one way to tell the same story and different people can give their takes on it. Now, if the Korean version had not existed and this was the first and only one, I feel people would like it. But it adds virtually nothing new and is just essentially the same movie but spoken in English. They are a few differences but they are so minor, it was hardly worth doing. I feel people hated this one so much because it was essentially the same as the original but they were very aware it wasn't.

There were some touches in this movie that I wouldn't have minded seeing in the original. For instance, the fake TV show they make to show him in his room with the actress pretending the be his daughter made for a better diversion. As far as I can recall, that didn't happen in the Korean one.

The recreation of the fight scene was badly done though. That was really a no win for them though. Had they left it out, they would have been criticized for leaving out the movies best scene. However, no matter how they done it, it wouldn't be good enough. The fight scene here was much less realistic. Not that being able to take on 20 plus guys all on your own is ever realistic, it was done better in the first one. Being down a narrow hallway, only about 2 or 3 guys could ever attack him at the same time, with the other guys waiting until they fell before they had a go. In this one, they were out in the open. The people would have been able to surround him better and would have taken him out fairly easily. Also, he seemed to be unharmed any time he got hit, like it never fazed him. At least in the original, it looked like he felt it when it got hit, making it more realistic.

Performance wise, I think Josh Brolin did well, however, Sharlto Copleys English accent was a little hammy. Also, I was confused as the why a man who was born in America and then moved the Luxembourg would have an English accent.

Overall, this wasn't a terrible movie. But obviously, it has nothing on the original.