Friday, January 1, 2010

Old Boy (Ghost #5 of 5)





Genre: Drama with Promises of Action that are never quite met

Premise: A man is mysteriously kidnapped and imprisoned for 15 years in a cell without any explanation. Then he is released. Armed with money and a cell phone. He seeks revenge for his torture, but soon finds his kidnappers aren’t yet finished with him.

About: Dreamworks secured the rights to the project. For a time, Spielberg and Will Smith discussed tackling the film. The reason for the projects delay appears to be Spielberg still has the script in development (which probably suggests he likes the script but isn’t ready to commit just yet). This script was written before these two became attached, and turned the Korean story into a Los Angeles nightmare. (Is Los Angeles nightmare redundant? I’m not sure.)

Writer: Ernesto M Foranda (Better Luck Tomorrow, doesn’t seem to have any other big credits) and Fabian Marquez (also just Better Luck Tomorrow, and something called Johnny Flynton) based on the movie by Chan-wook Park (the “Vengeance” trilogy)

I’ve read a few good scripts on Hunting for Isla. Many bad ones. But this Old Boy script is the best thing I’ve reviewed so far. Now I know it’s just a descendant of the Korean masterpiece (which I had never read in script form), but Old Boy is bar none hands down the best script I’ve reviewed so far on Hunting for Isla Fisher. Now Joe, you may be thinking, that’s an awfully big boast to make. Let me explain.

The idea of being locked up for fifteen years is terrifying. But the script doesn’t depict this as naturally a horrifying period of captivity. Rather, there’s a quiet, unsympathetic approach to this man’s suffering. And that’s a lot of the reason why Old Boy is scary. It’s not in the reveal, it’s in the depth and the approach. In a lot of ways, this whole thing reminded me of a Greek tragedy set in modern times. And elevates the captive to mythic levels. So I know, I know, some of you are going to say Old Boy isn’t really a ghost story. But, I’d argue that the captive at the end of his fifteen years is more ghost like than human. And like ghosts who stick to the Earth, this guy is obsessed with answering some questions about his life on the planet.

Now, the other thing Old Boy gets right which very easily could have turned this whole film into a crap fest is the reason why the captive was locked up. Rather than taking a cheesy or unnecessarily violent turn, the reason the captive is locked up has to do with a secret that rocks the whole world of characters. (Albeit, it’s a turn you see in a lot of movies with these types of secrets. But an effective one nonetheless).

Even more interestingly I don’t necessarily know if I was a big fan of the script’s plot in so much as I was a fan of the tone and the way the protagonist was depicted as a lonely, deranged hell bent wanderer. Not since Taxi Driver have I read something that leapt off the page with such ferocity. And that’s amazing because I spent a good part of the week discussing how rarely someone capture the ghost-like tone in a screenplay.

There’s this clown movie, Vulgar, which explores a similar idea using much less noble tactics. By the time the film ends, it’s erupted into little more than a shoot out with a guy and his captors. Then, there’s films like Deliverance and Prime Cut where the captors seek revenge but aren’t really traumatized. Then there’s Cast Away where the Tom Hanks is left where Old Boy starts: a man who has spent many years in captivity trying to make sense of his world. Old Boy makes good on what Cast Away should have done: how one lives with these God awful memories and readjusts to their world after years in the wilderness. Of course, Cast Away would probably have had some great product placement among this character development, but still. Old Boy takes the cake.

Scooby Doo (Complete Crap)
Atilla (Poor, Few Redeeming Qualities)
Wedding Crashers (Mediocre)
Hot Rod (Good)
[X] - Definitely Maybe (Pretty Darn Good)

Daily Tip: There are many scripts that managed to beat (or at least tackle) the slowness of the second act’s second half by revealing a groundbreaking secret. Now there are catches to this (the secret has to be revealed as something that ties into the story, among other things). But, if done correctly, the revelation of a shocking truth in a script that causes a reader to reevaluate everyone involved goes a long way to a good middle act.

Isla Prospect: There really isn’t a big female role in this thing. So no Isla turns today.
Script Link: I have a copy. Email me if interested.

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