NEWS: Oldboy Remake...

Okay, so I've had a long night. I've got papers to write, housing fees to pay, and now this crap bomb has been released...

It looks as though Steven Speilberg and Will Smith are set to direct and star in a new remake of cult hit and personal favorite of mine, Oldboy. Thanks to /film for this interesting information...

Steven Spielberg and Will Smith are in talks to collaborate on a remake of Chan Wook-Park’s Oldboy. Spielberg has been looking for an opportunity to work with Smith for a few years now, and this just might be the project. DreamWorks is in the process of securing the remake rights, and Spielberg is on the search for a screenwriter to develop the project. The project was originally set up with Fast and Furious director Justin Lin.

In the 2003 South Korean film, a man named Dae-Su is locked in a hotel room for 15 years without knowing why or who is holding him captive. He is suddenly released, given money, clothes and a cellphone and is sent on journey for revenge. The film won the Grand Prix at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival and was highly praised by Jury President Quentin Tarantino. Roger Ebert called Oldboy a “powerful film not because of what it depicts, but because of the depths of the human heart which it strips bare” … “We are so accustomed to ‘thrillers’ that exist only as machines for creating diversion that it’s a shock to find a movie in which the action, however violent, makes a statement and has a purpose.” It definitely has one of the best side-scrolling action scenes I’ve ever seen (included below).

This may be one of the greatest and most viscerally intense and exhausting films I've ever seen, and I personally don't think Speilberg and Smith are good fits, especially Smith. This is an INSANELY dark and intense film, and it doesn't seem like his kind of film. Speilberg is a similar story. It's a visually stunning film, but not necisarrily in Speilbergs sort of way. Now, this remake is going to get made no matter what, so this isn't the worst case, but I think it should go to a more visually oriented director. Someone like a Darron Aronofsky or maybe, here's a novel thought...LEAVE IT THE HELL ALONE...

For those few of you who have seen it, what do you think about this news? If you haven't had the chance to check this film out, please, do yourself a favor, rent this right away.

Go see something good!