Cinematical

I agree!!! Parks orginial would blow any American movie out of the water. To make an American remake would spell disaster for this movie and its overall concept. Hollywood would never allow the outcome of the orginial to be remade. It would not work for most American movie goers. I say let the movie stay in its orginial format and find something else to wreck. It is a shame that Hollywood must prey on foreign cinema or old time brilliant films in order to make movies in this day and time. How many movies have come out in the past two years that are remakes. Where is the originality in Hollywood???

Thank you! I was so afraid that there wouldn't be anyone out there that enjoyed those movies as much as I did. I agree with everything you said. Also, J.S.A, I'm a Cyborg, great titles.

ICON, I'm pretty sure that ML was being sarcastic with his "Spielberg touch" comment.

I consider OLDBOY to be one of the most visceral, emotionally exhausting, and amazing films ever made.

So, the only way, and I mean the only way, this remake would work is if they go 100% with it. I mean, remake OLDBOY completely. Don't water it down for American audiences, don't change the plot around. Do a straight remake with Will Smith and Spielberg behind the camera. Leave the finale in tact (tounge cutting and all the plot twists), have Will eat a live octopus and rip peoples teeth out with a hammer.Think about it. Think about all the nice middle Americans who would go and see this flick expecting a nice Spielbergian/Mr 4th Of July summer blockbuster, and then get hit with OLDBOY. Somehow, the thought of a straight-up remake with those two and the poor unsuspecting audiences watching it makes me smile.

But, if they're gonna just water it down then why bother? It'd be a waste of time.

Kevin, while I agree it doesn't directly affect the original movie, remakes can have some negative consequences. When remaking modern foreign movies, studios tend not to promote the source material and allow people to think it is an original. They don't plagiarize, but they are slow to acknowledge it's a remake. For example, when "the Departed" came out a lot of people I talked to had no idea it was a remake. My copy of "Infernal Affairs" never got so much play, as I tried to show everyone the original movie. Also, in the case of "The Departed," they completely changed the tone of the movie and the ending. While this worked for their movie, it forces people who have not seen the original to look at that movie differently. I am sadden to think a bunch of naive film goers will see the American "Oldboy" and not be able to experience the Korean version with fresh eyes (i.e. without already knowing Speilbergs interpretation). A remake doesn't ruin the original movie for those who have seen it, but it could ruin the movie for people who haven't.

I would so much rather see Speilberg support and promote Asian cinema than continue to pilfer it for ideas. Instead of remaking "Oldboy" why not pay for it to have a wider rerelease. Get people to expand their horizons.

Just tired of Hollywood remaking my favorite movies and then having to defend the originals to casual film fans.

Excellent points. However, I would contend that while the remake may color others interpretations of the original if they haven't seen it yet any other life experience would do the same. For example, I can't watch the matrix without thinking of the terminator. Does that make the matrix less of a great film? No, they stand on their own despite their similarities. So while a remake may be a reimagining of the same story, it is still a seperate entity that should be judged on its own merits alone. One thing that I would argue is great about remakes (perhaps the only thing...again, I'm not a fan of remaking movies, just arguing that it doesn't tarnish the original) is that it brings attention to often unknown films. Take your example of the departed. I'm sure that a large number of fans of that movie were so jazzed up about it that they went out and ordered/rented/bought Infernal Affairs, thereby opening that movie up to a market that had never even heard of it and never would have. While they may view it in a different light then you due to their different background with the plot, the fact remains that they will still view it. As with Oldboy, I had never heard of this movie. But I'm intrigued, and will try to track down a copy of it. I NEVER would have heard of this movie if it wasn't for the rumors of a remake, so the movie actually stands to gain considerably due to this exposure. Some of the classic sci fi movies that cinematical has talked about that are being remade will get the same treatment.

Lastly, just wanted to commend the cinematical readers for being so awesome. The forums on here are (almost) always extremely respectful and lead to interesting discussions. I only mention that because I just commented on a clip on youtube, and looking at the behavior of people on that site is pretty shocking. Way to go fellow readers, keep it up!

Alright!
Someone who knows about the manga too.
I hope they base it off the manga and NOT the movie.
The manga is way better than the movie.
I'm not just saying that because the manga came first
but because the manga actually has some plot.
The movie was totally just a kill-fest, let's see how many people
we can kill in this film? The movie isn't terrible but it's not the
great piece of art that some claim it is.
The manga is believe it or not not nearly as violent but it doesn't
need to be. The intelligence of plot is what makes the original
Oldboy (that would be the manga) so great, it doesn't need
a bunch of senseless violence. Not that having violence in a movie is bad, and sometimes senseless violence is good
but most of the time there should be some kind of point to
the violence--and not just one from the tip of the knife.
The Oldboy film reminds me of the manga Ichi the Killer.
At first it seems interesting and that it's not one of those stupid politically correct movies. But then after a while the violence gets repetitive and even boring. If I want a few hours of senseless violence I'll play some violent video game or
something. If I'm watching a movie I want some actual plot.

and all those people thinking that Oh Dae Su fucking
his daughter or whatever as art--it's not.
First of all, in the manga, that does NOT happen
(if it does and I'm wrong feel free to correct me)
What happens in the manga is this-
Shinichi Goto (which is Oldboy's REAL name--not "Oh Dae Su" or what should be called "Oh Damn Shit!")
meets some random chick soon after being released from his secret prison. Goto had an old girlfriend but since he has been locked up for 15 years--she probably thinks he's dead.
So anywho it's not very long before the random girl
is like "Hi, nice to meet you, let's have sex" (not exactly like that but it might as well been) and of course Shinichi agrees.
Then after they do it, we find out that the girl was a virgin
and just was really desperate. Really there was no point
to the whole scene, and it was incredibly unrealistic.
The scene was only done because--it's a seinen manga.
Adult males are reading it and apparently sex sells.
Same thing with the film, my guess is that the film director
thought having Oh Dae Su sleep with his daughter be even
more "controversial" but really it's just pointless and dumb.

In conclusion Oh Dae Su is totally inferior to Shinichi Goto.