3
here and there, Lee’s take becomes amusing when it tries to appropriate components of Park’s film. Most of the film follows a detective bent to the plot with Joe and newfound friend Marie (Elizabeth Olsen; Martha Marcy May Marlene, 2011, Silent House, 2o11) searching for answers, but there is no sense of tension or what’s at stake. For Oh Dae-su, his soul and sanity were on the line. Here, remorse doesn’t shape Joe’s desires, and this doesn’t lead to his absolution.
Sharlto Copley’s (Elysium, 2013, District 9, 2009) Adrian Pryce, the sadistic and ruthless schemer, is poised, creepy and ridiculous. Ultimately, Joe must answer to him and witness the twists that end up unveiling the past. It’s as if the whole film has been staged to allow Joe his catharsis—there’s no weight to his collapse, though there are slight modifications to the twist—but winds up leaving things feeling too tidy in the end.
While Park’s film was ambitious, Lee’s Oldboy falls on the line of rehash rather than reinterpretation. As a fan of the original, just like the dumplings on the prison menu, watching Lee’s film is akin to being fed the same thing over again, but this time it’s more bland.