Howdy do, everyone, Papa Vinyard here.
A day after we got our first look at the film's poster, we see the first footage from the OLDBOY remake via this red-band trailer, and it looks like Spike didn't deviate all that much from the Chan-Wook Park original. Aside from extending Brolin's stay from 15 years to 20 (which we already knew), it would seem to follow the basic framework of the original, hallway fight and all. Even that apartment looks sorta similar. But my skepticism as to the softer tone of this American remake has certainly died down. It was a smart move showing the red-band trailer first, and there's enough misery, sex, and hammers removed from skulls to assuage my concerns that they'd neuter this film for the masses (can you imagine if Spielberg and Will Smith got their hands on this? He'd come out of that chest with his shaved head and new duds and be all, "I make this look good").
For those who've seen the film: considering that Brolin clearly gets a glimpse at what the grown-up version of his daughter looks like, they HAD to have changed the ending, right? I mean hypnosis is some crazy shit, but can it really create a false memory of seeing your estranged daughter on television? I'm totally intrigued; I find myself wondering if the revenge bestowed upon Oh Dae-Su (or "Joe", as he's called now) will be something completely different than we're expecting...
It's weird that they highlight Sam Jackson's role in the film and don't show Sharlto Copely's face at all, considering Jackson's name isn't on the poster and Copely's is. I'd imagine that either Sam the Man's role is either a cameo or a surprise appearance, or, perhaps, he just chose to appear uncredited; either way, cat's out of the bag, and probably for the best, 'cause his presence will indeed get asses in seats for this one. He's the actor most commonly associated with this sort of PULP-y (see what I did there) fare, and I can't imagine anyone who isn't intrigued by the idea of him and Brolin squaring off.
And we all know who Copely's playing, right? Let's not kid ourselves. We don't need to see that stuff before the movie, and the less that average moviegoers (who probably haven't seen, or are completely unaware, of the original) know about his role, the better. I don't think anyone outside of geek circles (read: hasn't seen OLDBOY) would go, "Oh shit, we're seein' that, got that Copely!"
And isn't it nice to see Spike give another role to his JUNGLE FEVER/CLOCKERS/SUMMER OF SAM collaborator Michael Imperioli? We don't see that guy in enough mainstream movies these days.
Fun Fact: did you know that the actor in the original who played the guy who ran the prison that housed Oh Dae-Su is named…Oh Dai-su? Interesting stuff...
OLDBOY gets released from the apartment on October 25th.
-Vincent Zahedi
”Papa Vinyard”
vincentzahedi@gmail.com
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