Not just in Animal, that famous Oldboy hallway fight scene has been copied in many movies

Sandeep Reddy Vanga, the controversial director behind Arjun Reddy and its Hindi remake Kabir Singh, is back this year with Ranbir Kapoor’s next action project, Animal. Now, with Animal’s first “pre-teaser” revealing a fight scene between Kapoor’s bearded protagonist and a horde of masked men, the Internet is quick to draw comparisons with the South Korean action thriller Oldboy. 

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Has Animal copied Oldboy? 

With his masked enemies looking like Squid Game extras and with Kapoor himself looking like a Bollywood version of Yash’s Rocky Bhai from the KGF franchise, the scene plays out as an axe battle. 

Vanga, who promised Animal to be one violent ride, adorns the scene with bloodshed and pinkish-red neon lighting akin to the John Wick franchise (and even the Shahid Kapoor-starrer Bloody Daddy). Kapoor’s turn as an axe-bearing one-man army is visually similar to the famous hallway fight scene in Oldboy when Choi Min-sik’s protagonist faces off the villain’s numerous henchmen in a dingy hallway, armed with a hammer. 

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With the camera shifting from overhead angles to a "crab shot" like a side-scrolling Mario-style video game, the scene is the most popular one from the iconic 2003 film which, in fact, is also getting re-released in the US this year on its 20th anniversary. 

So far the pre-teaser doesn’t offer the iconic wide shots from the side but the camera does give an over-the-top (literally) view of the fight. The usage of axes and a narrow hallway serving as the setting complete the Oldboy influence. 

How Oldboy inspired hallway fights in Daredevil

Animal isn’t the only action movie to bear any resemblance to the Oldboy hallway scene which has now become an action movie template. Just a few years ago, when the gritty comic book drama series Daredevil aired on Netflix (now on Disney+), the first season featured an awe-inducing corridor brawl between the vigilante Daredevil and hundreds of Russian mobsters. 

The single-take fight scene was an obvious nod to Oldboy as the series' fight and stunt coordinator Philip Silvera told Vulture, “That scene is definitely influenced by Oldboy. But we brought it somewhere different.”

Silvera adds that he added his own take on Oldboy with some raw MMA-influenced fighting. 

Daredevil continued its fixation with Oldboy-inspired corridor fights in its sophomore season with Jon Bernthal’s hyperviolent antihero Punisher fighting off prisoners in a high-security facility’s hallway. Instead of an axe, the Punisher relies on just his bare knuckles. 

Oldboy was remade in Bollywood and Hollywood 

A poorer frame-for-frame attempt at recreating the hallway scene was already done in Bollywood back in 2006 when Sanjay Dutt starred in the unofficial Hindi remake of Oldboy, Zinda. Even BlackKklansman’s Spike Lee helmed a widely-panned Hollywood remake of Oldboy in 2013 that obviously featured the scene yet again. 

Oldboy’s influence on John Wick (and a Thai pre-John Wick classic) 

The influence has even swept into other East Asian action blockbusters like the globally-renowned Indonesian film The Raid in which Iko Uwais’ protagonist Rama faces off against nearly four druglord henchmen. The scene is adorned with minimal cuts, shaky camera movements and Uwais’s own top-notch martial arts skills. 

The Raid went on to inspire the stunt choreography of the John Wick franchise which has reinvented the “one against hundred” fight formula. And while no John Wick movie has directly recreated the hallway fight, its hyperviolent brawls and Keanu Reeves’ appearance make him a fine successor to Oldboy. The actor’s long-hair and the fact that he’s always fighting in a suit make him the perfect American Oldboy. 

The Oldboy hallway fight also got a Princess makeover 

Joey King might be infamous for starring in Netflix's The Kissing Booth franchise but in 2022, she also starred in the action film Bullet Train (which itself has it fair share of zany fast-paced stunts) and the period action comedy The Princess that finds King's titular protagonist overturning princess stereotypes with a fighting persona. The Princess notably opens with a staircase fight that King describes as her "own Oldboy moment".

While the princess is locked in an abandoned tower, a few warriors attempt to assault her only to encounter the princess's wrath, who butchers all of them single-handedly. The stunt choreography plays out more conventionally but it's amusing to note how the Oldboy fight has inspired even the most unconventional of action films. 

Forget movies, even an action game referenced Oldboy 

The Oldboy action scene has always looked like a blood-soaked video game level. And so, in 2022, the beat ‘em up video game Sifu (which is influenced by Jackie Chan-led martial arts flicks) featured a particular level whether the action takes place in an extremely similar hallway as Oldboy. 

Even the point of view plays out from a third-person side-scrolling view, mimicking the crab shot (side-scrolling shot) that made the original so famous. 

What’s the final verdict on Animal? 

The Animal fight scene does bear many similarities to the Oldboy bloodbath but Vanga’s response is awaited. And this should not be that surprising given Oldboy’s immense cross-border influence on the action genre. 

Depending upon how Vanga responds, we will we be able to determine if the controversial Arjun Reddy filmmaker aimed at the scene being a visual tribute to Oldboy or if he just blatantly ripped it off.