Joint Break.
Passing on the 'Joint', this 'Film By Spike Lee' is something completely different from the dynamic director of modern greats like 'Do The Right Thing' and 'Inside Man'. Remaking the 2003 Korean classic 'Oldboy' a decade later with veteran leading man Josh Brolin who plays a man fire-bent on revenge after waking up to hell of a hangover in the form of a hotel booking with no check-out or window escape for 20 years. And I bet you thought your recent road stop motel was bad. With the curtains drawn if you go into this movie blind, you'll know you'll be seeing something special when names like rising 'Godzilla' and 'Avengers' (the Scarlet Witch is alongside Nick Fury and Thanos here for your six degrees of superhero seperation) actress Elizabeth Olsen and Sharlto Copley (the normal likable gut showing just how great an actor he is by being abhorrently awful in character here, depressingly dislikeable and far from his comic, classic 'Elysium' bad man) pop up in the opening credits. Long-time Spike Lee collaborator Samuel L. Jackson is uncredited but here too with a sinister look that makes for his most formidable first frame in his fountain of a fantastic and filled filmography. Still its the old boy Brolin who is the best here in a unique but unnecessary remake that is that sick in parts despite some hammered home amazing action, terrific tension and defining drama. It's Brolin's brilliant acting in all his maverick mannerisms and epically evoking emotion that make this a powerhouse performance in a picture that would have been as perfect as this if more original. The outstanding Brolin has barely been better we just wish Josh had a picture this vivid. Still, this is a decent tribute to a true classic that will always belong in Korea. Here in America is perhaps no country for 'Oldboy'. TIM DAVID HARVEY.
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