Is everything okay, Spike Lee? It's concerning that you've shuffled forth such miserable efforts in the American-remake of Oldboy. Virtually identical in story, US Oldboy finds a brutish lout (Josh Brolin) held captive in a sinister hotel room for 20 years before mysteriously being set free. Except this time Spike Lee is directing, so Katrina and 9/11 get mentioned. After starting a new game, players control Brolin as he finds clues, fights level after level of bad guys and eventually faces off with final boss Sharlto Copley. Let's not judge Brolin's ease in credibly playing an alcoholic waste, but he's certainly uncharismatic lump during all those poorly-staged fight scenes. A revised ending comes as a surprise, but strips away any and all symbolism for the sake of being different. Even as an ethnically-shifted cinematic theme park ride, this Oldboy is an embarrassment.
