20 Times Directors You Trust Totally Let You Down

The Director:

Although he's p***ed off more or less everybody he's encountered over the years, Spike Lee is still arguably cinema's foremost black filmmaker, and has had a long, prosperous career.

The Film:

Spike Lee would be happy with this placement, as he seems to have largely disowned the film due to the studio interference it suffered from. We'll probably never know what the Spike Lee cut looks like, but it can't be any worse than this.

Remaking Old Boy, which is such an unconventional foreign masterpiece, was always a terrible idea. In that regard, this Americanization didn't disappoint, and proceeded to rob the story of all its complexity, depth and depravity. This merely offers a surprisingly wimpy and shallow revenge movie that's riddled with plot holes and misjudged narrative choices.

Spike Lee's film has some good performances and cool kills, but he entirely failed to keep the studio executives under control or add much visual flair to the film. Worst of all, he neglected to make Sharlto Copley aware of just how painfully dreadful his performance as the villain was.

Has He Bounced Back?

Overall, yes. He's made a fair few films in the years since Old Boy and they've mostly done fine. His most high-profile recent film, Chi-Raq, was a critical hit.