Line #10 YMMV/Oldboy2013


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2	* BestKnownForTheFanservice: It's joked that the only good reason to watch this remake, if not for the [[RetroactiveRecognition retroactive cast members]] of the [[Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse MCU]] (see elsewhere), is because it's the movie in which Creator/ElizabethOlsen gets naked and has a sex scene.
3	* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: There's a moment during Joe's captivity where, after having seen a painting in his room featuring an African-American bellboy, he actually hallucinates an African-American bellboy (played by Spike Lee's brother Cinqué Lee) materializing on his bed and laughing at him. It appears out of nowhere, it's weird in context, and it's never brought up again.[[note]]The only explanations for this are out-of-universe; namely, that it could be a ShoutOut to Cinqué having previously played a bellboy in ''Film/MysteryTrain'', and that it is the only indication in the film of Spike Lee's usual themes in his films of focusing on race and social commentary.[[/note]]
4	* CompleteMonster: [[spoiler:[[GreaterScopeVillain Arthur Pryce]] is Adrian's [[AbusiveParents father]], whose actions kickstart the series despite being long dead. [[ParentalIncest Sexually abusing his two children]] for years, while manipulating them into thinking it was love, Arthur moved his family overseas after his actions were exposed, and [[PaterFamilicide proceeded to slaughter his family and himself to escape his crimes]]. Arthur's actions drove Adrian, who survived the attack, to take revenge on Joe Doucett for causing his father's death.]]
5	* SugarWiki/FunnyMoments: Adrian's face after [[spoiler:Joe kills the female bodyguard.]] You can't tell if it's a frightened expression, a "Seriously?!" expression, or a combination of the two.
6	* HilariousInHindsight: Heavily overlapping with RetroactiveRecognition (see below).
7	** The release of ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'' and its large cast leads to some amusing casting coincidences since Creator/JoshBrolin plays TheHero of this film and the VillainProtagonist Thanos in ''Infinity War'':
8	*** Creator/PomKlementieff plays the ClimaxBoss in the film, Brolin's final physical challenge. In ''Infinity War'' she plays Mantis, who is instrumental in Thanos' most taxing fight. In both films, [[spoiler:she's killed by Brolin's character]].
9	*** Creator/ElizabethOlsen plays Wanda Maximoff in ''Infinity War'', and in that film, [[spoiler: Thanos kills his daughter Gamora while Wanda is one of the victims of his snap, so in a sense, one could say that he actually killed two "daughters"]]. Furthermore, in ''Infinity War''[='=]s follow-up ''Film/AvengersEndgame'', [[spoiler:a resurrected]] Wanda actually shares a scene with Thanos where she angrily confronts him, only for Thanos to tell her, "I don't even know who you are." Considering that the two actors had a sex scene together in this film, this makes the scene extra hilarious.
10	** Creator/RamiMalek's character, one of Chaney's goons, is killed by a hammer moving downwards. Although he got to play Music/{{Queen}}'s Music/FreddieMercury in ''Film/BohemianRhapsody'', he was not waiting for this [[WaxingLyrical hammer to fall]].
11	** Speaking of Malek, some reviews of this film said that Adrian behaved like a stereotypical Film/JamesBond villain. Years later, Malek would be cast as a villain in an actual Bond film, ''Film/NoTimeToDie''.
12	** The year before this film was released, Creator/ElizabethOlsen starred in [[Film/LiberalArts a film]] in which she's also in an AgeGapRomance with an older actor named Creator/{{Josh\|Radnor}}. The Josh of that film, though, was actually conscious about the age gap and decides to end that relationship on a chaste note. ''This'' Josh, however (despite being even ''older''), doesn't have the same problem.
13	* ItsTheSameNowItSucks: The film has been criticized as a superfluous remake that doesn't bring any new insight or artistic vision to the source material to justify its existence.
14	* JustHereForGodzilla: A retroactive one. Fans of the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse tend to check out this film only because Creator/JoshBrolin, Creator/ElizabethOlsen, and Creator/PomKlementieff later went on to appear in the MCU as Thanos, Scarlet Witch, and Mantis respectively, especially after all three characters interacted with each other in ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'' and ''Film/AvengersEndgame''.
15	* MemeticMutation: [[spoiler: [[Creator/JoshBrolin Thanos]] has sex with [[Creator/ElizabethOlsen Wanda]].]]
16	** While [[Creator/PomKlementieff Mantis]] watches.[[labelnote:Explanation]]After the release of ''Film/AvengersEndgame'', some people who remembered this film reacted to Wanda's fight with Thanos by posting scenes of their actors Creator/JoshBrolin and Creator/ElizabethOlsen interacting in this film, in particular scenes of ''that'' hotel scene.[[/labelnote]]
17	* SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome: While it lacked the more chaotic nature of the original, Creator/SpikeLee stays true to the original's spirit by shooting the infamous fight scene in one take. In the original cut, Lee upped the ante by having Joe fight through four floors of mooks in a single take. Unfortunately, [[ExecutiveMeddling the studio cut it down to two.]]
18	* {{Narm}}:
19	** Adrian's flashback to [[spoiler: his father killing his sister, mother, and nearly killing him with a shotgun.]] What should be a tense, dramatic and tragic moment is utterly ruined by [[spoiler:the father performing an OminousWalk from room to room like a slasher villain, nobody reacting to the shotgun blasts in the next room over, and Adrian and his sister reacting to their father coldly walking into their rooms with a shotgun by ''immediately undressing'']].
20	** Adrian makes the most ridiculous frightened expression after [[spoiler:Joe kills his female bodyguard]]. While Adrian presented himself as very campy through the whole film, it nonetheless really kills the mood of the cold-blooded scene.
21	** Joe's reaction when he discovers that [[spoiler:Adrian manipulated him into sleeping with his own daughter]]. While an anguished reaction is understandable, Josh Brolin's [[LargeHam hammy-as-all-hell]] acting in that scene comes across as awfully similar to Creator/NicolasCage at his worst.
22	** Joe's scenes of being drunk before his kidnapping, non-stop.
23	--->'''Joe:''' Nono--NOOOOO! Fuck nooo, aaaaaaaaaah!
24	** And who can forget Adrian's reaction to Chucky having called his sister a whore.
25	--->'''Adrian:''' [[spoiler: YOU CALLED HER A WHORE! WHORE! ''WHORE!'' '''WHORE!!!''']]
26	* RetroactiveRecognition:
27	** Creator/JoshBrolin, Creator/ElizabethOlsen, and Creator/PomKlementieff would all go on to appear in the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse as Thanos, Scarlet Witch, and Mantis, respectively (not to mention that Creator/SamuelLJackson, who was already playing Nick Fury in the MCU by the time this film came out, plays Chaney in this film).
28	** Chaney's goon who gets a claw hammer to the top of his head is played by Creator/RamiMalek before he became famous for ''Series/MrRobot'' and ''Film/BohemianRhapsody''.
29	** The television journalist announcing the murder of Joe's family is played by Creator/HannahSimone, who would become famous as Cece on ''Series/NewGirl'', though the show was already airing by the time the film came out.
30	** Judy, the woman in the business dinner Joe bungles up at the beginning of the film, is played by Creator/IlfeneshHadera, who would become famous for playing Stephanie Holden in ''Film/Baywatch2017''.
31	* SignatureScene: The hotel sex scene between Joe and Marie.
32	* {{Squick}}: [[spoiler:As with the original film, the sex scene is part of a ploy by the villain to force the protagonist to have sex with his own daughter]].
33	* StrangledByTheRedString: Even putting aside the fact that [[spoiler:Joe and Marie falling for each other is part of the villain's plot to force Joe to have sex with her own daughter (and even that plan has its holes)]], a common criticism of this remake is that there's very little reason for Joe and Marie's attraction: Joe early on is very abrasive to her, even downright threatening her with physical violence after she reads his letters, yet apparently them having some small talk about their issues is enough for them to passionately have sex. Even their sex scene begins with him rather half-heartedly pulling her to his side.
34	* TheyChangedItNowItSucks:
35	** Many fans of the original film say that the remake lacks most of the surreal, haunting, and operatic qualities of the original and instead feels more like a conventional thriller in terms of its pacing and editing. Even the scenes that it does lift almost directly from the original lack most of the original nuance and meaning.
36	** The film's sex scene is also treated as this in comparison with the one in the original. Most people who watched the original film noted that even before TheReveal, the sex scene was portrayed in a way that it looks like it's just ''wrong'' somehow (Mi-do, the Marie analogue, even clearly has a pained look early on), most likely as {{Foreshadowing}}, whereas the one in this film isn't any different from any other Hollywood sex scene done just for titillation.
37	* ToughActToFollow: The hallway fight scene from the original ''Oldboy'' is considered one of the greatest and most influential fight sequences ever, almost to the point of [[TropeCodifier codifying]] the HallwayFight trope due to virtually every hallway fight being held in comparison to it. While this movie's version of the sequence still has a place in SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome above for still being TheOner, it is also criticized for lacking the chaotic nature of the original, seeming [[PlotArmor a little too in favor of Joe's safety and survival]], and for simply ''not'' being the original.

Context YMMV / Oldboy2013