{"id":422,"date":"2014-07-08T22:00:49","date_gmt":"2014-07-08T22:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=422"},"modified":"2026-09-22T12:48:33","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T16:48:33","slug":"oldboy-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=422","title":{"rendered":"Oldboy-2013"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oldboy-2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

Director Spike Lee<\/strong><\/p>\n

Starring Josh Brolin<\/strong><\/p>\n

Scott’s Review #97<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"70274810\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Reviewed July 8, 2014\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Grade: B-<\/strong><\/p>\n

Oldboy (2013) is a United States remake of the original South Korean film from 2003, telling the story of a successful advertising executive named Joe Doucett, played wonderfully by Josh Brolin.<\/p>\n

He is mysteriously kidnapped and kept prisoner in a private one-room facility, where he is served the same three meals daily for twenty years, while framed for the murder of his wife.<\/p>\n

Over the years, he keeps up with his daughter’s life through videos.<\/p>\n

He is just as mysteriously released after twenty years and sets out to exact revenge on his former captors.<\/p>\n

Brolin is charismatic and appealing in the lead role (kudos for his multiple nude scenes), and it is nice to see Michael Imperioli in an offbeat supporting role.<\/p>\n

The premise is interesting, but it is the kind of film where everything is plot-driven, the villains completely manipulate events, and the film becomes implausible and, via flashbacks, reminds me of the CBS series Cold Case.<\/p>\n

Forgetting that Brolin’s character becomes superhero-like and chiseled after twenty years in captivity, the film is a good, solid, fun thrill ride, and bloody at times.<\/p>\n

It has aspects of a nice whodunit, a least a first.<\/p>\n

It has so many plot holes that I lost count, but somehow it is enjoyable at the same time.<\/p>\n

Oldboy (2013) is never boring and even unpredictable at times.<\/p>\n

Many questions run through the viewer’s head. Who is the villain? What could the villain’s motivation be? Friend or foe?<\/p>\n

The film is unrealistic and ludicrous at times, but also highly enjoyable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Oldboy-2013 Director Spike Lee Starring Josh Brolin Scott’s Review #97 Reviewed July 8, 2014\u00a0 Grade: B- Oldboy (2013) is a United States remake of the original South Korean film from 2003, telling the story of a successful advertising executive named Joe Doucett, played wonderfully by Josh Brolin. He is mysteriously kidnapped and kept prisoner in … Continue reading Oldboy-2013<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,11605,204],"tags":[4095,5538,2497,4754,12327,1721,2909,1197,12716,1644],"class_list":["post-422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2013-films","category-action","category-thrillers","tag-elizabeth-olsen","tag-james-ransone","tag-josh-brolin","tag-lance-reddick","tag-linda-emond","tag-michael-imperioli","tag-rami-malek","tag-samuel-l-jackson","tag-sharlto-copley","tag-spike-lee"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=422"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24588,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422\/revisions\/24588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}