12 Great Directors Who Helmed Terrible Movie Remakes

Spike Lee's remake of Oldboy came and went with so little fanfare that there's a good chance that you'd forgotten it even existed. It's a textbook example of an unnecessary remake - the South Korean original happens to be one of the more famous works of world cinema, so it's not even like Lee's goal could have been to bring the film to a new audience.

Everybody knows Oldboy already.

Having produced at least a handful of certifiable masterpieces (Do the Right Thing, to name but one), Lee has had a hard time getting his own projects off the ground over the years, and has - on occasion - taken on studio assignments as a way to pay the bills. Sometimes it works out, resulting in competent, mainstream flicks like Inside Man. Sometimes it doesn't, and you get Oldboy.

The original story, which concerns a man who is kidnapped and imprisoned in a room for 20 years, and - after getting out - seeks revenge on his captors, works because it's played as an intricate mystery. The remake adds nothing, and any changes it does make to the original film are vastly inferior, lessening the overall impact.

Lee's original version ran at 140 minutes, but the studio cut it down to just 104; according to both Lee and actor Josh Brolin, who played the lead, the director's cut - which has never been released - is far superior. Rather amusingly, Oldboy is credited as a "A Spike Lee Film," as opposed to the trademark "A Spike Lee Joint." Very telling.