15 Insufferable Movie Protagonists That Ruined Their Movies
9. Joe Doucett - Oldboy
Alright, fine, the protagonist of the original Oldboy wasn't exactly up for likability awards either, but he remained easy to root for and sympathize with, unlike his remake equivalent.
In the opening 15 minutes alone, we see Joe verbally abuse his wife, neglect his daughter, sexually harass other women and generally treat everyone else like s**t. In flashbacks he is shown to have been a nasty and misogynistic school bully and as such, it is hard to feel any sympathy for him.
It is also impossible to see him being locked up for 20 years as a tragedy; after all, he did finally become a more decent man during that ordeal. Despite this, once released he is still a merciless killer who doesn't care who he hurts, so he's still hard to root for.
Joe Doucett is a horrible man, which is part of what made this remake fail, since we can't get emotionally invested in his arc. Make no mistake, Oh Dae-su (the original's protagonist) was very much lost in translation here.