I am having an impossible time wrapping around the idea of Steven Spielberg and Will Smith working together on a remake of Chan Wook-park’s Oldboy. To go along with that I am having a very hard time explaining my reasons without sounding like someone who thinks the Holocaust was one of the worst events in history. When I come to that point in the conversation I hope I am able to explain myself well enough to make my opinion clear.
Of course, the first question to ask is why does a remake of Oldboy need to be made at all? Whether you are a fan of Chan’s flick or someone that hated it, I really don’t see anyway of saying it isn’t a very, very well made feature. Personally I have seen it only once and was actually quite sickened by it, so much to the point that I never even reviewed it because I didn’t even want to revisit it in my mind. I almost saw it four years ago now though and can hardly remember the twist ending, but some of the images remain burned in my brain and those images most certainly do not scream Steven Spielberg and Will Smith.
Sure, Spielberg made Schindler’s List and he wasn’t shy about showing the atrocities that went on back then, but there is a difference to making a film about real world atrocities considering they don’t exist for entertainment value, at least I hope no one was entertained by some of those scenes in Schindler’s List. What makes Oldboy the film it is, is the mixture of story and all out violence, something I don’t see coming from either Smith or Spielberg. Outside of the language in the Bad Boys films, Smith has stayed relatively squeaky clean and even though Spielberg also made Jaws and Saving Private Ryan neither of those films come close to the intensity of Oldboy.
This tells me one thing, this remake will most likely tone down the intensity of the original, a move that will ultimately gut the reaction an audience receives. It’s either that, or Spielberg and Smith decide to toss aside their image and go for the gusto and instantly piss off legions of fans that traditionally can count on PG-13 entertainment from the both of them. I just don’t see Spielberg doing it and Smith is still the box-office golden boy, why would he jeopardize such a situation? For Smith, making a direct remake of Oldboy would most likely be considered his very own couch jumping moment.
The Variety article reporting the news says the film is set up at Universal and Spielberg is looking for a writer to begin the development process.
The Korean original centered on a man who gets kidnapped and held in a shabby cell for 15 years without explanation. Suddenly, he’s released and given money, a cell phone and clothes and is set on a path to discover who destroyed his life so he can take revenge. While I don’t remember the specifics, I know this film may start off as a revenge film, but it ends up more of a mystery. You can get more information on the original right here.
