I’m a major Peckinpah fan, and *Straw Dogs * is second only to The Wild Bunch as one of my favorite Peckinpah films.
Now they’ve gone and done a remake. Has anybody seen it? Does it hold a candle to the original? Would it be worth watching for its own sake if it hadn’t been a remake of a classic film that explored disturbing aspects of violence and human nature? The critics at Rotten Tomatoes give the remake a 32% favorable rating, while the audience rating gives it 52%.
I kind of want to be fair and give the remake a reasonable chance, which means watching it in a theater where it’s intended to be seen, but at the same time going to the movies is expensive these days. I’d really be pissed if I plunked down a fair sized chunk of change only to get yet another mediocre thriller.
So, has anybody seen the remake? Has anybody seen both the remake and the original? Should I break open my piggy bank or wait for the Netflix DVD?
I’m skeptical as well. Knowing it’s been remade just makes me want to see the original again, except that I saw it not too many years ago. I can’t think of anything that needed improving, and it doesn’t seem dated. Can’t imagine Kate Bosworth being an improvement on Susan George.
I have always considered both Kate Bosworth and James Marsden to be totally wooden, wretched “actors”. But Kate Bosworth especially. I really cannot stand her. She was an astonishingly awful Lois Lane in Superman Returns. I so despise her, I can’t even begin to describe how much I hate her screen presence, though she might in fact be a good person. I also generally hate remakes, and I hate the idea of remaking a Sam Peckinpah movie, as his movies are so distinctively his own that they should not be reinterpreted by other directors. And, most of all, I hate the fact that the setting of the movie is being changed from rural Cornwall (England) - which is such a distinctive setting - to the American “redneck country.” (Just what we need - another “evil rednex are teh skary” movie.)
All that being said: I will be seeing the Straw Dogs remake in the theater. The reason why? Walton Goggins. It is well worth the fee to see this incomparable actor in any production.
I saw it this weekend. Not bad. Can’t say particularly good, tho.
Loved the ending, the end of the conflict. I can’t remember how the original ended, but, it seems that the original had better suspense.
Nothing inspirational, but the consensus of me and gf: Not terrible. If you have nothing better to watch, and just *have *to get out to the movies, it beats Priest.
I thought the Susan George nudity in the original was very effectively unsettling, foreboding, added to the tension and sense of danger.
As far as I know, Kate Bosworth has never done any nude scenes. I’m assuming there isn’t an exception made here. Am I wrong?
Really not a movie that can be “cleaned up” and remain effective.
Also, the conflict in defining “manhood”. Manhood was defined differently back then, and notably, was in a transitional stage.
The sophisticated intellectual taking on the tough guys worked as a look at changing gender roles in greater society (not that there weren’t sophisticated intellectuals before this time, just that the answer to which of these guys is a “real man” would have been more of a no-brainer).
The wife, herself, is conflicted about her husband’s score on the manliness meter.
I just don’t see a movie in 2011 effectively projecting this conflict. We’ve come out on the other side of the transition that was happening when the original film was made. Nowadays, the no-brainer is going to be that the tough guys are backward neanderthal thugs. handsomeharry, you saw it. Your thoughts?
I don’t know anything about this version. But I find the Turkish version to be quite interesting.
Note about the link: It’s a video review of the actual Turkish rippoff. I couldn’t figure out why I thought I’d seen this movie before, and then I remembered his review. And the reviewer is the most professional I’ve ever seen on the web.