Chan-wook Park’s Oldboy squints into a broken mirror. It sees not a reflection but a remake; Spike Lee’s version of events gurns back – the very definition of a pointless movie.

Stripped of the original’s twisted elegance, this film wanders around in apologetic fashion; seemingly ashamed by its own existence. Everything is played safe, despite the brutal subject matter. Lee even manages to reduce the famous hammer sequence into looking like something from Adam West’s Batman series.

Bloody and bloody awful, this is the school play adaptation of Oldboy. As a movie, it’s mediocre. As a remake, it’s unforgivable.

Spike Lee scrambles Chan-wook Park’s story in a perfunctory attempt to be original, but too much is lifted from its famous Asian counterpart. All audiences are left with is a cheap photocopy of a great movie. Stick with the original.

RATING: 1/5

INFORMATION

CAST: Josh Brolin, Elizabeth Olsen, Sharlto Copley and Samuel L. Jackson.

DIRECTOR: Spike Lee 

WRITER: Mark Protosevich

SYNOPSIS: After being imprisoned for twenty years, a man must discover the truth behind his kidnapping and the reason why he has been let go.