Oldboy (2013)

OLDBOY  (2013)  ¢ ¢ 1/2
    D: Spike Lee
    Josh Brolin, Elizabeth Olsen, Sharlto Copley,
    Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Imperioli, Max Casella
Josh Brolin plays an ad salesman named Joe Doucette, an asshole who only changes character when he drinks and becomes an even bigger asshole. Then one night, after blowing a big sale (by being an asshole) and getting drunker than usual, Joe's inexplicably  kidnapped. When  he comes to, he's locked in what looks like a drab hotel room, where he's fed a steady diet of Asian dumplings and vodka, and that's where he spends the next 20 years, not knowing who put him there, but determined to get even once he gets out. And then he gets out. This almost gets by as a cinematic exercise - it's a remake of a Korean movie from 2003 - but it's hard to engage in a story that's not remotely believable, or a lead character who's not remotely worth caring about. Maybe the context is wrong, or maybe it takes a Tarantino or a John Woo to shift something like this from Asia to the West and get it right. "Oldboy" leaves plenty of blood on the floor. What it needs is more tongue in its cheek.