Having recently revisited Park Chan-wook’s Oldboy, I’ve come to the conclusion that that film has a little slice of everything. It has incredibly light humor followed by the darkest of gallows humor,  and then proceeds to toss any funny business aside to strike at some of the darkest themes I’ve ever seen in a film. It’s one of those movies that could only be satisfactorily completed in another country with values and tolerance levels significantly different from our own.

Which is why the idea that Steven Spielberg would be teaming with Will Smith to deliver a remake of the film was a horrible one indeed. There’s no way they could possibly create something as powerful as the original. It just wasn’t feasible in Hollywood.

The great news is that Latino Review is reporting the remake dead in the water, as Spielberg and Smith have jumped ship. If any filmmaker stood a chance at bringing this thing to light, it would have been Spielberg, so I have faith that the beast has truly been slain.

If you’re interested in seeing just what they couldn’t have gotten away with, I encourage you to check out the original film.