Movie Remakes

So I didn't manage to get an entry posted last week -- too busy getting my new laptop setup. So here's the entry I'd originally planned to do last week. Weekend before last, I saw two things at the theater that motivated this week's post (which is something of a continuation of my previous rant about Hollywood's complete lack of creativity). Firstly I saw the new version of The Wolfman. Secondly, before the movie, I saw a trailer for the new version of The Karate Kid (and on a similar tangent, I've repeatedly scene the trailer for the remake of Clash of the Titans). Now, regardless of how good, bad, or otherwise these movies might end up being, in every case I have to ask the same question, "Did this movie REALLY need to get remade?"

Hollywood seems to be under the mistaken (in my opinion) belief that any movie more than 20 years old will have either been long forgotten, or never seen, by the movie-going public, which of course makes them all fodder for a remake. It was bad enough when they were just madly remaking foreign films, such as the wave of Asian horror movie remakes that came out after the success of The Ring (and as a fan of Asian cinema, I have to say that in 9 out of 10 cases, the original films were FAR superior to their silly Hollywood versions). But when that source was pretty much tapped dry, it was time to move on to greener pastures -- and by going into their own archives, they suddenly had hundreds and hundreds of scripts just waiting to be screwed up -- I mean, redone.

You can break down remakes of Hollywood movies into two basic categories -- remakes of classic films, and remakes of forgettable B movies. What's interesting is that each category has a very different reason for being used (and thus a different reason for asking, "Why?"). With your B movies, the obvious hope of the producers is that no one will remember the original movie, so they can pretend they've really written a new, original script (which of course is foolish, since in almost every case movie critics immediately point out in their reviews that the movie is a remake). A perfect example of this is last year's The Stepfather. While not a terrible movie, it was still at best a forgettable, nothing new or exciting suspense thriller. Which shouldn't be a surprise, since the original version of The Stepfather (released back in 1987), made very little money at the box office (although I was surprised to discover while researching this that the original actually spawned a sequel two years later). And the original at least had the presence of Terry O'Quinn (a very fine actor) as the villain (he also came back for the sequel) -- who likely made the original films worth watching. But what you have to wonder is this -- if the original movie wasn't exactly a box office hit, why on earth would you bother redoing it?

But this type of remake I can at least halfway forgive. I can see someone looking at an obscure older movie and thinking that it was ahead of its time, or that it was a good idea that just wasn't executed well, that with a tweaked, updated script and different actors/director, maybe a forgettable movie can be remade into something worth watching (and in its defense, the remake of The Stepfather made quite a bit more money than the original did, even adjusted for inflation). It certainly doesn't seem to happen with any regularity that I've seen, but I can at least get behind the effort to try and remake and old movie and hopefully make it better the second time around.

What I can't get behind, however, is the idea of trying to remake a classic film. And the reason for these remakes is obvious -- the producers are hoping to use the name recognition of the original film to help sell the new film. But I'm sorry, there's a reason that the original is a classic -- it was done really well THE FIRST TIME!! Which begs the question, how much hubris do you have to have as a filmmaker to think you can do a better job than the people who did the original film?! I don't care if the original movie is only 20 or 30 years old, or is 60 or 70 years old (which does guarantee that few moviegoers saw it when it originally came out at theaters), the same basic statement holds true -- you don't mess with a classic! Let's specifically look at the three movies I mentioned in my opening paragraph:

We'll start with The Wolfman, since that's the only one currently out. Yes, the original The Wolf Man (which interestingly enough has a three-word title, whereas the new version is only two) came out almost 70 years ago (back in 1941). That doesn't change the fact that it is one of those great Universal horror films from the classic era of Hollywood movie-making. And while Benicio Del Toro is certainly a fine actor, he's still not Lon Chaney Jr.! Which is not to say that I didn't enjoy the updated version, because it was certainly a solid film, but regardless, it was still a movie that just didn't need to get made. If you want to see a great, classic werewolf movie, see the original! That's why we have Netflix.

Next up we have The Karate Kid. And again, I have to ask, "Why would you remake this movie?" If you just can't get enough of the concept, you not only have the original movie, but all three sequels! One thing I will give the new movie props for, though, is that they cast Jackie Chan in the Pat Morita role from the original (which is what I call an inspired bit of casting!). The fact that it stars Jackie Chan is enough to make we want to see it, but I still just can't get over the fact that the someone thought this movie needed to get remade.

Finally we get the movie that's bugging me the most, the new Clash of the Titans. Now I fully admit that I will almost certainly go see this movie opening weekend (if for no other reason than this is absolutely one of my favorite genres of film), but I will more than likely do my best to simply ignore the title and pretend I'm watching a completely new movie. This remake bothers me for a few reasons. For starters, I loved the original movie (hard to believe I was only 9 years old when that came out!). And from what I've seen in the trailers, this movie looks like it has very little in common with the original. Secondly (and more importantly), I don't care how jam-packed the movie is with super high speed visual effects, no amount of CGI will EVER replace the magic of Ray Harryhausen's miniatures effects. For wonderful, classic sci-fi and fantasy movies, check out any film he's been involved with.

Obviously these are but a tiny few examples of the many, many, many film remakes that Hollywood has done or is planning to do. And I'm sure it will only continue to get worse. I'm waiting for (and dreading) the day that some idiot decides that such classics as Gone With The Wind or Casablanca or Citizen Kane are ready for a modern makeover. You can defend it any way you want -- we've got better visual effects now, few if any movie-goers are still around who saw the originals in theaters (if that's your argument, then just re-release the originals!), younger audiences want to a newer, updated version, whatever. At the end of the day, regardless of how good your movie is, you're still just redoing something that's already been done (and in too many cases, been done really, really well). If it's a good concept, then here's a thought -- go ahead and use the basic concept, but make an original movie with it! In the memorable words of Albert Einstein (and this is probably one of my all time favorite quotes) -- "The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources." This is an idea Hollywood truly needs to embrace; if you're looking at a classic story or film, instead of just redoing it, try and do something new and different and original with it (a perfect example of this very rare occurrence is how James Cameron took the basic story idea of Dances with Wolves and turned it into Avatar, an amazing and (at least in my mind) very original film). Of course, there are sadly very few filmmakers out there of his caliber.

Okay, so that's my rant for the week. I'm thinking next week I may try and get away from the rants, and write something positive for once (shocking, I know). After all, there's plenty to love about movies (or else I wouldn't be at the theater every weekend). We'll just have to see what the week brings.