Straw Dogs

The problem with remakes is universal - The original movie is always hanging over the memories of the audience, so we're constantly comparing it to what came before. The problem with the remake of Straw Dogs is that it virtually asks us to compare it to the original. Writer-director Rod Lurie has stayed so faithful to the original movie, we can't help but draw comparisons. And while I'm not one to complain about a filmmaker being faithful or paying tribute to the original work, there's a fine line between being faithful and just plain ripping it off. A line this movie crosses many times.

Let me first say that on the whole, and taken solely on its own, this movie is certainly not bad. The location where the story is set, and some other details have been changed, but for the most part, this is the same as the original 1971 controversial film. It's been simplified in some ways, I guess to reach a wider audience. Many of the film's themes aren't explored as well as the first time around, and there's some dialogue that's been added that literally spells out to the audience what the title is supposed to refer to. Other than that, the movie sticks note to note to the original. So, why can't we just watch the original? That's the question this remake fails to answer, and it suffers because of it. The movie is never boring, but it's softer, and maybe a little too sanitized at times. (The film's infamous rape scene is in tact, but features a lot more cutaways.) Something tells me the people who have made Straw Dogs a cult classic over the years have not exactly been wishing for this.

The setting's been switched from a small English town, to a small town in the deep South, and the professions of our two leads have been changed, but otherwise, the set up is exactly the same. Hollywood screenwriter David Sumner (James Marsden) and his actress wife Amy (Kate Bosworth) have returned to Amy's hometown, so that David can escape from his usual hectic L.A. lifestyle, and focus on writing his latest script about the 1943 battle of Stalingrad. Amy's hometown is a secluded place called Blackwater, where everyone's lives seem to revolve around the high school football team, and the local bar is filled with every colorful (and shady) sort imaginable. Obviously, when David and Amy pull into town in David's classic Jaguar car, they don't exactly fit in with the locals. Oh, did I mention that many of the locals look like every dangerous Southern redneck stereotype known to man?

Our main antagonist is Charlie (True Blood's Alexander Skarsgard), who also just happens to be Amy's former flame back in high school. He hasn't forgotten her, and spends most of his time not-so-subtly towering over David, as if he is silently challenging his manhood. David plays up the passive nice guy aspect around Charlie. He doesn't want to mingle with his sort, but he doesn't have a choice, as it just so happens that Charlie and his gang of redneck ruffians are the team that have been hired to fix the roof on the house that David and Amy are staying in while they're in town. David simply does not want to start any trouble - Not when Charlie's friends walk around the house like they own the place, raiding the fridge whenever they please, and not even when Amy starts complaining about Charlie leering at her while she's out jogging. This obviously becomes hard when Charlie and his friends start upping the stakes, first by killing Amy's pet cat, and then by threatening Amy herself.

Straw Dogs wants to ask a lot of tough questions, such as how far can a "civilized" man be pushed until he is forced to fight back, or if a part of Amy does not in fact miss Charlie. As I mentioned, while these points are still present in the remake, they have been simplified, and kind of muddied. What we get here is a movie that hits the same beats as its predecessor, just not as effectively. The violent and sexual nature of the story has been muted, even though the film's famously violent climax (right down to the bear trap and the nail gun) has been recreated top to bottom. This makes the remake a bit of an oddity. It's well-made, well-acted, and obviously has been made by people who want to respect the original. But something is constantly off. It's like watching a stage show, where the original cast is long gone, and the new cast is trying their best to capture the feeling of the show, but just aren't grasping it. Nothing hits as hard as it should.

That certainly doesn't mean that the cast doesn't try. James Marsden (looking a little like James Franco here) doesn't have quite the "quiet nerd pushed to the extreme edge" intensity that Dustin Hoffman had in the 1971 film, but I really didn't have any big complaints about his performance. Likewise, Skarsgard does a good job of seeming intimidating just in the way that he seems to tower over his enemies. He smiles, and does his best to come across as being someone you can trust, but he's clearly a wolf, and brings a lot of intensity. Bosworth, in the lead female role however, suffers from the same problem as in the original - She's more of a pawn to be used by the two lead men, than she is an active participant in the story. All three of these performances manage to be restrained at least, which is more than I can say for James Woods, who leaves no piece of scenery standing in his performance as the drunk and dangerous football coach.

The 2011 Straw Dogs manages to be almost exactly like the original, only tamer and not as dangerous, which I guess is to be expected. Judged on it's own, it's pretty decent, with a couple over the top performances thrown in. I would recommend it if you haven't seen the original, but why, when the original can easily be rented? This is not really that bad of a movie. I just see little reason for it to be out there in the first place.

See the movie times in your area or buy the DVD at Amazon.com!

0 comments