When I saw that Spike Lee was going to direct, I thought there was a real possibility that this might be good. My expectations were too high.
I've read that there is an extra 40 minutes that were cut out by the producers, and I hope that's true, because given the mediocrity of the film as it stands, it would take at least 40 minutes of very quality film making to redeem it.
The remake, while not entirely without merit, tends to highlight the weak points in the story as a whole, but does little to improve upon them. However, Josh Brolin's acting is fairly good, as is Liz Olsen's, but neither character is worth the effort. The rest of the cast just fill the space and do not improve the viewing experience. There seems to be no reason for why any of the characters do the things they do, and the "emotion" generated felt like the blood often sprayed on the walls. It was just there, and it should have mattered, but it didn't.
The film becomes almost cheesy at key moments in the story, which have the potential to explore ideas about good and evil, oppression, addiction, income inequality, and vengeance. It picks up slightly with about 25 minutes to go, but then spirals back to the cheesy feel of the rest of it. My final critique is that rather then immersing the viewer in a world of experiential feelings, (which the original does) this takes away the element of having to engage the material and just explains it all away. Part of what made the original great was you had to wrestle with it.
I think 5 out of 10 is just about right for this film.
I've read that there is an extra 40 minutes that were cut out by the producers, and I hope that's true, because given the mediocrity of the film as it stands, it would take at least 40 minutes of very quality film making to redeem it.
The remake, while not entirely without merit, tends to highlight the weak points in the story as a whole, but does little to improve upon them. However, Josh Brolin's acting is fairly good, as is Liz Olsen's, but neither character is worth the effort. The rest of the cast just fill the space and do not improve the viewing experience. There seems to be no reason for why any of the characters do the things they do, and the "emotion" generated felt like the blood often sprayed on the walls. It was just there, and it should have mattered, but it didn't.
The film becomes almost cheesy at key moments in the story, which have the potential to explore ideas about good and evil, oppression, addiction, income inequality, and vengeance. It picks up slightly with about 25 minutes to go, but then spirals back to the cheesy feel of the rest of it. My final critique is that rather then immersing the viewer in a world of experiential feelings, (which the original does) this takes away the element of having to engage the material and just explains it all away. Part of what made the original great was you had to wrestle with it.
I think 5 out of 10 is just about right for this film.