First Bloody Red Band Trailer for Spike Lee's 'Oldboy' Starring Josh Brolin

Talk of an American remake of Park Chan-Wook's vengeance classic Oldboy had been going on for a long time without fans ever really taking to it. For obvious reason, as Chan-Wook's film was the cornerstone of his amazing "Vengeance Trilogy", and the manga it was based from no less a cherished piece of work. The only thing that helped turn around the negative attitude towards it was the arrival of Spike Lee, a director as known for thinking outside the box as for the indie movement he was so much a part of in his early career. After dropping a clever poster yesterday that hinted at the complete stylistic shift Lee was undergoing to make this film a reality, the first red band trailer has arrived, and it looks like the pulpiest, most violent work he's ever done.

Showing he is fully capable of matching Chan-Wook's frenetic and off-kilter approach, Oldboy is obviously a "Spike Lee joint", and you can see echoes of the gritty style he brought to films like 25th Hour and Inside Man. At the same time, he's also drawing a clear homage to Chan-Wook's film, mimicking him shot-for-shot in a couple of instances. Josh Brolin plays a man who is mysteriously kidnapped and held in solitary confinement for twenty years, and then just as suddenly is set free. He embarks on a quest to find out why, and as the trailer suggests he spills a lot of blood to do it. Brolin is dead on point in the lead role, while Samuel L. Jackson is in full showboat mode. The biggest question remains how Lee will handle the film's greatest twist, and we don't get much of an indication one way or another here, although we do get a brief look at co-star Elizabeth Olsen.

All in all, Oldboy fans should be pretty pleased, but we'll see how it all comes together on October 25th.