Comments on: Adrien Brody To Star In Remake Of The Experiment

By: SlashBeast

SlashBeast — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 17:47:32 +0000

What movie doesn’t have an anti-government theme?

By: lewis

lewis — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 07:07:56 +0000

I would think that the issue here wouldn’t be just about remakes in general but about Hollywood neutering or softening the social criticism of the original. From what I understand Das Experiment has an “outsider”, anti-government theme to it. So the problem is that Hollywood will almost inevitably cheapen the film’s message. I mean, think about how cool Hollywood tends to make violence, no matter what. It’s like impossible for Hollywood to criticize violence without glorifying violence because of their “edgy” filming techniques. I could see a character at the end of the film intimating that “Violence is bad! And anyone is capable of it! It’s bad how violent humans can be to each other once they’ve given positions of power!” But what does that matter if the preceding two hours has been a series of scenes that make violence look cool?

I agree with John that films like The Departed prove that Hollywood can do a great job of remaking foreign films. The idea of bringing a good foreign story to the English-speaking masses is also somewhat noble. HOWEVER, unlike The Departed, Das Experiment seems to have a clear, strong social message. Hollywood’s track record shows that they will almost undoubtedly screw that up.

By: Ty

Ty — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 21:10:29 +0000

I thought of the Stanford Prison experiment when I saw the synopsis for this.

By: Ty

Ty — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 21:08:56 +0000

Sometimes people want to check out the original before seeing the remake anyways.

John is right that a lot of people check out the originals after seeing the remakes, but some people even check out the original BEFORE seeing the remake. Good example is “3:10 to Yuma” (not a bad film in my opinion). But to follow up with HB’s comment about how there’s no point in seeing an original if you’ve seen the remake…not true. Again, in “3:10 to Yuma” there are some significant differences. “Death Race” and “Death Race 2000″ is also original-to-remake, but both were good films. John Carpenter and Rob Zombie had different visions of how “Halloween” should be made, and in a lot of ways RB’s version was creepier for the more modern teens of the 1990′s to undoubtedly the 21st century.

I think remakes are a good idea (especially for action movies) because of how different the technology is today than it was before, thus we have more room for creativity in remake films of today than we did in the 70′s per say.

Not all remakes, or sequels for that matter, are fantastic. I agree. But that shouldn’t stop people from looking into the originals.

By: Matt Keith

Matt Keith — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 18:21:56 +0000

“Oh come on. John, you’re like the only guy on the planet that thinks that remakes are a good idea”

I think remakes are a good idea….I mean its not like the original is hurt in anyway.

By: Shinobi

Shinobi — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 17:55:49 +0000

Agreed, a good story should be enjoyed by the most people possible.

I’m not against remakes at all but sometimes it’s better to leave things as they are but in the end it’s capitalism at work here.

Hollywood studios buy the rights of these movies because they know (or hope) they will make money by remaking them. It’s logical when you look at it that way.

By: Jeremy K.

Jeremy K. — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 17:18:14 +0000

You hit the nail on the head, but on the opposite point you are trying to make. People that don’t want to watch a foreign film in subtitles is their preference, and thus the remake is being made for them. Plain and simple. Obviously there is an audience for such films, as they continue to make them and make money off them. I’m all for anything that spreads a good story to more ears personally.

By: Shinobi

Shinobi — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 16:57:17 +0000

There’s no point to remake this movie. The original is great and if people can’t deal with subtitles it’s their problem. It’s not really the kind of movie that’d benefit of having a bigger budget.
But if a movie was badly executed because of a lack of budget then in some case a reamke is worth it.

Most people I know don’t care about seeing the original movie when they see a remake of it. Also foreign movies are more and more available for rental than ever before these days.

By: kevin [ jonathancranehiscameo]

kevin [ jonathancranehiscameo] — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 14:40:33 +0000

I really want to use The Jacket for this example. That movie also sucked big time by being too much hollywood. I just want to say – I know this from the start that i wont work. You dont touch good movies that dont need a remake. Movies like Halloween or Friday the 13th – Oké, But i dont want to see Der Untergang to be remade with Christopher Lee as freaking Hitler. It just wont work.

By: matty

matty — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 11:03:06 +0000

Getting slightly off topic here……