I am excited for Spike Lee‘s OLDBOY if only because it gives me the chance to talk about Park Chan-wook’s masterpiece all over again. While this remake is being looked at by many with disdain, I am interested to see how much it keeps in line with the original and how much it deviates. From the trailer we can already see many similarly shot sequences including the prison cell, the steam trunk, and the hammer fight, but there is a lot that is unique as well.
For instance, Samuel L. Jackson‘s character appears to be a larger role than it was in the original. The character is an important one in that it sets Josh Brolin‘s protagonist on the path to solving the mystery of his imprisonment. In the Korean film, this character was there but didn’t stand out as much as Jackson does with his blonde mohawk. In fact, Spike Lee spoke about that hairstyle choice in the brief video below.
For an actor as prolific as Samuel L. Jackson, the guy never phones it in. Each and every part he takes he makes his own. Having a storied career with Spike Lee, it seems Jackson feels comfortable enough to try something totally different. From the looks of the trailer and these new images, it may just be working.
As for the other new images below, I am definitely curious about the girl with the yellow umbrella. Is she a manifestation of the fractured mind of the main character or an actual person in the story? As for the goth punks, I assume those are henchmen working at the prison. Either way, this looks very different than anything Spike Lee has done before and that alone piques my interest in the movie.
OLDBOY starring Josh Brolin, Samuel L. Jackson, Elizabeth Olsen, and Sharlto Copley opens November 27, 2013.