After a slew of bad word of mouth and embarrassing delays, the reboot of Robocop will finally be limping into theatres at the beginning of 2014. Original director Paul Verhoeven had no involvement and the whole thing appears to have little resemblance to the original flick. Consequently, it’s almost certainly going to suck. This got me wondering — is it actually possible to remake a movie successfully?
The original Robocop was a brilliantly shlocky sci-fi film that made headlines for its balls-to-the-wall violence. It was also notable for its satirical take on the media, privatization and moral decay, making it a hit with brainy cinema buffs and bogan action fans alike. The new movie appears to have swept most of these themes under the carpet. The studio has also plumped for a PG-13 rating which means virtually all of the elements that made Robocop special have been stripped away. You can check out the trailer for yourself below:
In recent years, we’ve had to suffer through a seemingly endless deluge of dodgy reboots as a creatively-bankrupt Hollywood returns to the well, over and over again. Some of the worst offenders include Total Recall, The Texas Chain-Saw Massacre, Death At A Funeral, A Nightmare On Elm Street, Straw Dogs, Clash Of The Titans, Death Race, Conan The Barbarian, The Omen and Planet Of The Apes (Tim Burton version).
And then there was the Nicolas Cage-starring remake of the 1973 cult classic The Wicker Man which frankly defies all description. Check out the below highlight reel for a taste of the gibbering insanity. It’s not intended to be a comedy. No really.
In addition to Robocop 2.0, we also have remakes of Gremlins, All Quiet On The Western Front, The Black Hole The Crow, Godzilla (again), The Wild Bunch, Old Boy and The Never Ending Story to look forward to.
And then there was the recent remake of Carrie which I caught a screening of last month. As the titular Carrie White, Chloë Grace Moretz is far too pretty to convince as a friendless high school outcast (if anything, their attempts to “uglify” the actress have only rendered her more attractive). The climactic showdown at the prom is also problematic; it somehow manages to both underwhelm and be too over-the-top.
The cynic in me thinks it will only be a matter of time before we get a remake of Jaws — with a completely CGI shark, natch. They’ll probably give the Hooper role to Katy Perry and get Nickelback to do the end-credits soundtrack. Just thinking about it gives me nightmares.
But anyway. All these terrible movies got me wondering about the good-to-bad ratio when it comes to remakes. Are there any examples that are halfway decent or — god forbid — actually better than the original? Off the top of our heads, the only examples I can think of are John Carpenter’s The Thing (which has since been re-remade badly), David Cronenberg’s The Fly and Sergio Leone’s A Fistful of Dollars (although this is treating the term ‘remake’ very loosely).
Can you guys think of any other movie remakes that managed to equal or improve upon the original? Share your nominations below. Alternatively, feel free to share your opinion in why remakes seem to fail so often. Are fan expectations or talentless Hollywood hacks to blame?
(Some ground rules: Adaptations and ‘reimaginings’ don’t count — and no scouring movie sites for suggestions if you haven’t actually seen the flick!)
Comments
125 responses to “Off Topic: Is There Such Thing As A Good Movie Remake?”
I was a fan of the remakes for The Thomas Crowne Affair, Cape Fear, and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is technically one too…
The Oceans 11 and The Italian Job updates aren’t too bad for watching when they’re on, but not quite as good as the originals.
But yeah… there’s not many.
(Oh, and I didn’t mind The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, but I haven’t seen the original so can’t compare)
I thought the remake of Oceans 11 was clever and fleetingly entertaining, but nothing beats the end of the original (or the amazing cast).
This is pretty much exactly what I think. The ending of the original was SO perfect, it was a real shame the remake couldn’t hold to it. It wouldn’t have even jeopardised the sequels, in fact you could even have it strengthen the relationship between Danny and Tess.
But audiences these days would have felt cheated by it, I’m sure.
The Italian Job remake had nothing to do with italy except for 5 minute ‘job’ at the start. The actual ‘job’ takes place in LA which is dumb given the film name.
The Death Race films are masterpieces, although each of the 3 has something in them they shouldn’t have done. (14k’s navigator getting mauled by the truck blade in DR1 to name one).
If Mary Poppins ever gets a remake there will be riots. England should legally prohibit any remake.
The best remakes are the ones who take the premise of an existing story/movie and explore a different direction. You can take a story from decades ago and update it to explore the story through modern times to get a new take on an existing theme while still contributing interesting ideas.
I think the point Im trying to make is not to just ‘remake’ a movie since nothing new thematically is being added. When a remake offers an existing idea but a new ‘lens’ to look at it, it has the potential for success.
Examples of successful remakes include Scarface and The Thing.
Came here just to say the thing! Also the new Evil Dead was pretty damn good.
I agree the new Evil Dead was very good, technically its not a remake but a new film set in the universe but it did feel like a remake to me
The new Evil Dead is actually pretty good? I’m a die-hard fan of the series, but I’ve been umming and aahing over seeing the new one, particularly with the trailers pre-cinema release making it look very little like an Evil Dead film. I may have to bite the bullet and check it out then.
Agreed on The Thing (the John Carpenter one, not the recent prequel)
I thought he said that Adaptations don’t count? I was going to say John Carpenter’s version of The Thing but didn’t because it’s not a remake of the movie, it’s a re-adaptation of the original short story.
Same reason I didn’t mention the Coen brothers’ remake of True Grit – great movie, better than the John Wayne original IMO, but again it’s a re-adaptation of the novel, not a remake of the movie.
You’re probably right, but Chris does mention it in the article as one of his good “remakes”.
And the new Conan movie as a bad remake- that was a readaption, so it seems you can ignore the readaption thing.
These I did not know about. My faith in humanity is now completely shattered. If anyone wants me my head and I will be examining the interior of a gas oven at length.
I guess they can’t do any worse than the Neverending Story sequels.
*shudders* oh god make it stop
aaww 🙁 now i’m thinking of the original movie…
AAAAAAAAAARTAAAAAAAAAAAX!
*sobs*
The Neverending Remake, until they cancel the series because the remake flops.
I liked the 2nd one… I only recently watched the 3rd one with my kid… oh my god…
Star Trek
I dont think they are better than the originals, but they arent worse
They are different enough to stand on their own
and the way that different story curve was introduced was plausible enough, and executed well enough to fly
Star Trek is a direct sequel, it is not a remake. It has Old Spock in it from the original universe, the timeline is just parallel.
While technically you are correct
I think this is still valid for the topic as there are still the same underlying core tennants
Scarface – I rest my my case
I thought Dredd with Karl Urban was not a half-bad attempt at a Judge Dredd reboot…
Also Gone in 60 Seconds with Nicolas Cage rates as one of my favourite movies
Dredd was pretty damn good, pity it’s going to be almost impossible to get a sequel…
Dredd isn’t really a remake of the Stallone movie — it’s a completely different story using the same comic book character. To be a remake, it would need to reuse the same plot elements (such as Dredd taking the long walk, fighting the Angel brothers, etc.)
Yeah fair enough, i guess with remakes i was more thinking reboots of franchises rather then remaking of a movie…
well in that case, Gone in 60 Seconds is still a pretty cool guy 😛
Then let us praise the Lord that it wasn’t a remake! What a crock of shit the Stallone movie was.
I watched this (The Raid) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1899353/ and then watched the new Dredd a week or two later. The Raid is much better than Dredd and basicly the same movie 🙂
The plots were quite similar but I much preferred Dredd. I liked The Raid, but I actually think they followed quite different artistic visions (to be wanky about it) and I just liked the style of Dredd more. But then again, I liked the Stallone movie when I watched it as a kid.
Yeh the Raid was great (I hear there is a sequel comin out) but it didn’t have that slow mo blood splatter. Those knife fights though, damn..
Dredd was absolutely Fantastic! Was very gritty, and did so much with such a limited set in terms of character development and story. Would definitely love that direction to be followed with a sequel.
So much better than the 90’s, campy, versace-designed bullshit.
‘I AM THE LAW’… yeeaah that was pretty terrible 😛
They’ll probably give the Hooper role to Katy Perry and get Nickelback to do the end-credits soundtrack
SHHHHHH THEY’LL HEAR YOU!!!
“Dredd (3D)” is a fair contender. It took what was already a pretty average 90’s film, stripped out the corny dialogue/exposition and left us with a simple, short, explosive story. (While also taking inspiration from Indonesian action flick “The Raid”)
See above 😛
If we wanted to be pedantic about these things, The Raid and Dredd were in production at the same time, with Dredd going into production a little earlier.
Oops I should have kept reading
The Raid was written and produced AFTER Dredd. If anything, The Raid was inspired by Dredd, not the other way round.
Dredd was plagued by delayed release and thus The Raid came out first, which is why many people think that Dredd knocked off The Raid. It did not.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1343727/faq#.2.1.10
Fright Night was a suitable remake.
The rather good Twelve Monkeys is a remake of La Jetee, a film which also heavily inspired the equally good Looper.
I couldn’t say whether True Lies is a better film than La Totale!, but it’s arguably Arnie’s last really enjoyable movie.
I’d say The Departed was a pretty solid remake of Infernal Affairs too, though I prefer the original.
I watched Infernal Affairs after hearing all about how great it was and how The Departed was a copy – IMHO The Departed is approximately 20000 times better.
I think Infernal Affairs has a tighter plot but the acting in The Departed is just phenomenal. One of the best whole cast performances I can think of.
Here are some what I think were good movie remakes
Scarface – Need I say More
Gone In 60 Seconds – Although it was loosely based on the 1974 original…was still good remake
Oceans 11 – Hard to top the original but its good for a moden remake
The Italian Job – Same as above
The Thomas Crown Affair – It was good remake because it followed the premise of the original but retold in a different way
all of the above. with specific focus on 60sec and Italian job, regardless of whether they held true as a remake, they were an entertaining stand-alone watch in their own right and they both sit up as a go to watch for me when I am bored wanting to fill time.
Oh yeah…I have to agree…Gone In 60 Seconds was a regular lunch time movie back in the day
Last Man Standing, Bruce Willis remake from 15 years ago of a black and white gangster flick. Fucking. Ace.
I really thought that movie was terrible. Didn’t know it was a remake, but I thought it was purely, subjectively, awful.
Did you just rate Last Man Standing over A Fistful of Dollars and Yojimbo? You are banned from the internet!
No, I just said one particular movie was ace. No attempt to crap on other movies in the process was made.
Haha, I’m just joshin ya. But seriously, Last Man Standing is actually a remake of two CLASSIC movies.
*cough* The Departed *cough*
…
*pats wilton on the back and hands over a glass of water
A recent remake I thought was a good homage to the original was Evil Dead . It definitely nailed the atmosphere, music and creepiness of the original for me.
Also rewatched some Paul Verhoeven movies recently; Robocop, Total Recall & Starship Troopers which are some of my fav scifi movies. They sure don’t make em like that anymore.
I just didn’t get what starship troopers was trying to do. It’s one of my favourite books and I thought the movie would be in the spirit of that. Whilst it clearly wasn’t, I have no idea what the makers were actually going for.
Yeh do agree with u actually. The whole citizen/civilian thing was interesting but it did feel very Beverly Hills 90210 at the start. I heard somewhere that Paul Verhoeven didnt actually finish reading the book when he made the movie. I just enjoyed the humor, satire and special effects (at the time). I remember being blown away by that fort attack scene when I first saw it.
It was a dig at the hypocrisy of U.S. foreign policy among other things.
I was reminded of the movie last month when I read the following article: http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/11/-em-starship-troopers-em-one-of-the-most-misunderstood-movies-ever/281236/
Have a read of it yourself and perhaps you will “get” more of what the movie was trying to do.
(It’s one of my favourites by the way, I actually saw it twice in the cinema! I loved the juxtaposition of crazy action and effects with the underlying satire.)
Yeah, Evil Dead was pretty damn decent. One of the few modern horror flicks that pulled no punches. Original is still better though.
yeh for sure. Moral of the story: If u find a book covered in barb wire with all this writing saying not to read it on the cover, do NOT f*$ing read the book out loud!
I hear there is an Army of Darkness sequel in the works with Bruce Campbell attached. Not sure how I feel about that yet. The original was more comedy than horror, but there is potential for something great there.
I love Bruce, and 99% of the time feel like he can do no wrong, but I think the time for an Army of Darkness sequel sailed over a decade ago. I did find it interesting to see the praise he heaped on the new Evil Dead initially, only to turn around an semi-announce an Army of Darkness sequel that won’t tie into that film in any way.
Yeh I did like that little scene after the credits of Evil Dead with Bruce Campbell looking into the camera and saying “groovy”.. sort of like how he approves
The Total Recall remake was much more faithful to the book.
Gone in 60 seconds, just saying
I don’t follow movie news as I like as few spoilers as possible when watching a film for the first time, but seriously? Robocop is PG-13?
Yeeeeeppp.
*flashbacks to Robocop 3*
No mentions of Let Me in/Let The Right One In?
That’s a weird one because as far as remakes go this is as close as they get. The US version is practically a frame by frame reconstruction of the Scandinavian version with the location, actors and language changed.
Does a copy of the original movie count as a remake? Brilliant film either way though.
That would fall into the relatively competent but completely and utterly redundant remake category.
That is a very, very large category.
I haven’t seen it, but didn’t the US version of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo get great reviews?
It’s literally a thousand times better than the Scandanavian version. Mostly because the Fincher’s version has a script that doesn’t read like it was written by an autistic 13 year old, but also because of virtually every other aspect.
I am fully aware of how much flak this is going to cop from the foreign language film mafia, but honestly, how can you watch the Scandanavian version without groaning at how bad the dialog is? And even if you pass that off to “the dialog just doesn’t translate very well, its actually pretty good if you speak Sweedish” that doesn’t make up for the fact that the pacing is just utterly rubbish in the original and it feels like you’re watching a crime-drama tv show where you’ve missed all the actual good episodes.
Wasn’t the Swedish version made for television?
huh? I actually quite liked the pacing. I found it interesting and enjoyed the slow burn of intrigue it produced.
I thought the Coen Brothers did pretty good with True Grit. I liked it better than the original.
Agreed, although I think they are both good films for their respective eras.
Just pointing out, that the “remake” of The Neverending Story isn’t actually a remake of the original movie, but rather a re-imagining of it. The author of the original novel, Michael Ende, was apparently so upset at the direction the movie took and how little resemblence to the book it ended up as, that he tried to sue the movie studio. That didn’t work, so he asked them to remove his name from the credits as he did not want to be associated with it. And they did, you won’t see Michael Ende’s name in the credits of the movie. The movie also ended only about a third of the way through the book, too (the following two sequels for the record did not continue the story but rather made up their own).
The re-imaging is supposedly an attempt to make a movie that follows the book much more closely.
We’ve heard that before with the likes of the modern Conan movie which was A. further from Howard’s books than the Arnie version and B. Terrible.
Maybe it’ll be ok, but I’m not exactly holding my breath.
I’m remaining cautiously optimistic.
There are rumbling of them taking the same approach with Starship Troopers. Not remaking the awesome 90’s movie, but doing another version that resembles the book more closely.
Is the book worth reading? I’m not sure I’ve ever actually seen a copy for sale.
The book was written in German in 1979, not sure if it ever got an english adaption. Apparantly the original movie was only halfway through the book.
You talking about The Neverending Story or Starship Troopers?
Either way, yes they are worth reading.
Dredd was great – really surprised me – I want more of that badly.
Also The Evil Dead was very good – not better than the original remake (read – Evil Dead II) but you could argue it wasn’t worse.
I liked the Omega Man better then the Vince Price I am Legend…the latter a bit too campy for me. But it was probably more a ‘reimagining’ from the book rather than a remake. And I’m a sucker for Charlton.
Old doesnt necessarily mean better. Robocop was a great movie but certainly could have been improved. Its one I personally have been wanting to see remade for years.
3:10 to Yuma, The Birdcage, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Dawn of the Dead, The Departed, King Kong, Scarface… just a few I can think of which were as good if not better than the original.
I agree!
The 1978 version of Invasion of the Body Snatches was a better version than the original (though the 1993 version was inferior to both by a good margin). That’s my go-to movie for this question (most people haven’t seen the original, which is both plodding and hilarious, though it is neither intentionally). Though it may count as an adaptation (but seeing as you’ve included The Thing…).
On the upcoming front, I’ve got some hope for the The Black Hole remake, though I have trouble with the thought of anyone trying to top John Barry’s incredible score for that movie.
Didn’t someone do a shot for shot remake of Psycho? I imagine that’d be reasonably decent
Gus van Sant, and … not so much: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1084964-psycho/ (thought to be fair, he’s always claimed it was an experiment to see if a shot-for-shot remake wold work, and it isn’t awful).
I liked the total recall remake.
As a massive fan of the original, I liked it for the in-jokes and to see where they were going to take the original story, but as a movie on its own it was a bare pass.
Yeah i didnt mind the Total Recall remake either. I thought it was on par with the original.
Miracle on 34th St was a solid remake, if you like that sort of thing.
A lot of people seem to forget this one. But it was pretty good.
The Time Machine remake is pretty damn awesome
The Fly
Dawn of the Dead 2004 (not better, just different and still excellent)
Assault on Precinct 13 (again, not better, but still damn good)
Scarface
Evil Dead 2012 (Practical effects ftw, try watching the first sometime, a classic but even Raimi himself says that its lacking a *LOT*)
The Crazies (ANYONE who says the original is better than the remake needs their head read, even Romero said the original was a turd).
Dracula: Gary Oldman was magnificent. The movie was outstandingly good, even Keanu was forgivable.
The Hills Have Eyes: Bloody good remake in EVERY sense of the word, stamps on the original in every way, complete pity about the sequel though.
The Blob: Kevin Dillon in the remake was a great replacement for Steve McQueen, the pink, gory acidic killer was great at eating people! No man woman OR CHILD was safe!
Silent Night: SO much better than the original Silent Night Deadly Night of which it was remade from. SO much better.
The best thing about these remakes, is most of them veer widely from their source material becoming their own thing, which is the way to do it, When you try to completely copy the original, you fail. When you become your own identity, you risk great success!
The hills have eyes was trully awful. Makes me wonder how terrible the original must have been…
Not a great movie but as a remake its far superior which is the intent of the article.
Every Frankenstein movie ever made after the Boris Karloff version. Terrible.
(Except of course for the brilliant reboots, Young Frankenstein and Edward Scissorhands)
Huh. I never thought of Edward Scissorhands as an adaption of Frankenstein. It’s actually really obvious now that I think about it.
Evil Dead 2 was technically a remake done in the style Reimi wanted it to be. The 2012 remake though I thought was all gore and effects, no heart or decent characterization.
The Departed was an almost straight up remake that was great. The Ring was both better and worse than the original, but is really very good. Grudge sits in that category, too.
Older remakes like The Omega Man, The Thing, and The Vanishing tended to fair better. Someone also mentioned the Donald Sutherland version of Bodysnatchers, which was miles ahead of the original.
True Grit.
Another vote for Evil Dead 2012 I really liked that.
Also can’t really remember too well since it was a long time ago that I saw the original and the remake, but I think the new version of Halloween was pretty decent too?
Maniac. Evil Dead 2.
Surprised The Karate Kid didn’t make it into the list of worst offenders. Then a again, that was so horrible it’s probably better off not reminding people of it’s existence. WHAT HAVE I DONE?!
I think the fact Chloe was still attractive as Carrie didn’t detract from the movie, it doesn’t matter if Carrie was ugly or not, the reason she is an outcast is because of her mothers problems. She forced Carrie to dress “proper” and refused to let her be social. Carrie was socially awkward, if she had been allowed to lead a proper life she would have been popular.
It’s not a movie, but the anime series Kanon was remade after a first effort and the remake is widely regarded as the better effort.
Did you seriously just write this entire article, and 2 pages of comments.
NOT A SINGLE MENTION OF NOLAN’S DARK KNIGHT MOVIES!
far out
Those aren’t remakes, they are franchise reboots.
Seriously? Dude it’s the same thing.
Dude, did you read the comments dude, that Chris Jager dude, the dude who wrote the article even commented on the difference between remakes and reboots. Dud
You’re allowed to have your own opinion dude. Just because the dude who wrote the original opinion thinks something different (dude) you don’t have to agree.
I think it’s the same thing.
That’s like saying Frasier is essentially a remake of Cheers.
Except the lead character is the same. And the 5 supporting characters are the same. And all of the enemies are the same. And the background story is the same.
For your example, it would have to be a movie about Commissioner Gordon and his brother living with their crotchety ex-cop dad.
The Grudge remake was a pretty good film, as was The Ring, but for the most part remakes are a letdown.
The Ring is an interesting topic (I can’t vouch for The Grudge, sadly), as the films quite clearly show the difference in the way Eastern and Western horror works. Ringu (AKA Japanese Ring) was scary not for what you saw, but for what you didn’t see, and how long you went without seeing something. Suspense was built by not showing you things when you expected to see them, and then hitting you when you least expected it. It was very much a slow burn film, which can be a very alienating thing for Western audiences (I love the premise, but my missus can’t stand it). American Ring (for lack of a better distinguishing term), on the other hand, showed a lot more, and relied a little more on jump scares and showing the character reacting to the situation that you see on screen yourself.
Both are definitely valid ways of handling horror, although I personally found Ringu to be fantastic, and American Ring to be merely enjoyable.
Cronenberg/Goldblum – The Fly. Miles better than the 50’s original.
…also agree with those who feel The Departed was a cut above Infernal Affairs.
Cronenberg’s The Fly is my favourite movie of all time. I don’t think of it as a remake so much as a re-imagining of the original concept.
The Ring (bad remake)
Dragon Tattoo (good remake)
For the more commonly known…
Batman Begins/Dark Knight (good remake/reboot) – havent seen #3
Transformers #1 (good remake/reboot) – anything after #1 is shit
Spiderman and Superman (bad, but you can’t really help that considering the source material >.>)
I don’t think that’s a fair thing to blame the source material for a bad movie. If the source material is no good for a movie adaption than don’t make a movie adaption. Spiderman and Superman have been far more interesting in their cartoon form than their movie forms, same with Batman.
The worst offenders are American remakes of foreign films and TV shows, because American audiences are apparently incapable of empathising with anybody who doesn’t share their cultural background, language and accent. Oldboy is one of the greatest movies ever made, it didn’t need to be re-made with white people, but lo and behold, here it is.
This probably falls into the ‘Dragon Tattoo/Let the Right One In’ category, but i feel Quarantine is far inferior to [Rec] even though its shot-for-shot (terrible acting and the pacing is just off)
If A Fistful of Dollars gets a mention, then Magnificent Seven definitely deserves a nod. Both Seven Samurai and Magnificent Seven are fantastic films. A good remake doesn’t have to be better than the original if it does some aspects better or presents an interesting new angle. The score of Magnificent Seven alone is enough to consider it a great film and then there’s the whole rest of the movie too.
If The Magnificent Seven counts then Star Wars was a pretty good remake of The Hidden Fortress too… 😛
Tinker Tailor