Spike Lee's Oldboy: Torture, Suspense and a Fro-hawk

by Terisa Thurman @sfterisa

Oldboy, a brand new movie from Spike Lee will open nationwide in theaters on Wednesday, November 27. If you don't rush out to the premiere, you may be able to sneak in a turkey sandwich or two as it falls right around Thanksgiving. Not that I would encourage such a thing, but it could be a little snack on a dinner roll or Hawaiian rolls; those are so good. Again, I'm not encouraging you to do such a thing, although I might. Anyway, this film is described as a proactive, visceral thriller that follows the story of an advertising executive (Josh Brolin) who is abruptly kidnapped and held hostage for 20 years in solitary confinement. When he is inexplicably released, he embarks on an obsessive mission to discover who orchestrated his bizarre and torturous punishment only to find that he is still trapped in a web of conspiracy and torment.

After watching the first half of the trailer, the film seems a little too surreal. I'm not really connected to this character. It seems awfully staged so much so that I'm not able to play along. By the time Josh Brolin's character ends up in a field climbing out of box in the middle of nowhere, only then am I intrigued.

Josh Brolin as ‘Joe Doucett’ in FilmDistrict’s OLDBOY. Photo credit: Hilary Bronwyn Gayle

Now it feels as though the game has begun and we can finally dig our heels into the exciting part of the movie. Torture scenes: meh. Man out to get answers: oh yeah! And then character actor Samuel L. Jackson shows up and brings his dazzling talent to light up a dreary mise-en-scene created by our protagonist's harsh reality.

And then character actor Samuel L. Jackson shows up and brings his dazzling talent to light up a dreary mise en scene created by our protagonist's harsh reality.

Samuel L. Jackson stars in Spike Lee's reinterpretation of OLDBOY. Photo credit: Hilary Bronwyn Gayle

You may notice Jackson's blonde fro-hawk. It's pretty out of the ordinary for him and I have great faith in his acting ability to live up to its attention grabbing status. He boosts my curiosity that much more about this movie.

Oldboy is a unique reinterpretation of the 2003 Korean film of the same name, Oldboy.  The retelling was scripted by Mark Protosevich who also wrote screen adaptations of I Am Legend, The Cell and Thor.

I will most likely be there in late November with a turkey sandwich in hand and a bottled water that I snuck in. ;)