I loved both films immensely but if I had to choose a favourite, Nolan's remake would probably win by a hair.
One of the big reasons for this would be, as someone else said, the style of the film. Although the original was great in it's very bleak and sparse atmosphere, Nolan seemed to add an even dreamier element in the filming which made gave the film a much more surreal aspect as well.
I also have to side with the performances in the remake as well. I thought Pacino did a better job portraying the wounded cop. Skarsgard's performance was very good, but he pretty much portrayed the guy as a straight *beep* whereas Pacino added more humanity to this very tortured character. Pacino also looked a hell of a lot more sleep-deprived than Skarsgard did. And Robin Williams, in one of his career-best performances, completely surprised us with his dead serious performance as a cold, creepy killer. The actor who played the killer in the original (can't remember his name) was decent, but never left me with any kind of real lasting impression, as Williams did. Also, Pacino and Williams squared off so well together that the tension kept on rising.
As for the ending, I love how both of them have completely different conclusions. In the remake, of course, he gets a form of redemption at the end, while in the original, he has successfully covered everything up and will keep living his life with this over his head. They're two very fascinating ways of ending the story as well as both being very ambiguous, which keeps you thinking about them for days after.
"There is no band"
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looneyngilo2
19 years ago
I loved the original
1. Because of it's realistic brutality, maybe because I'm a fan of Gabriel Garcia Marquez(the harsh truthfulness in Cronique of an anounced murder)
2. I liked it's spareness, it reminded me of The Piano Teacher, I like when it's represented clean& bleak, representing a boring life(despite all!)
3. I liked that Skarsgard was a complete *beep* to qoute somebody else:
"I thought the final confrontation between anti-hero and villain held more interesting facets in the original. The scenes that you mentioned...I would suggest that they better establish the lead character's relationship with the villain. Americans, sadly, cannot live without a clear distinction between good and evil The main element, a character study of a man so wrapped up in his belief in his competence, that he must scheme mightly to avoid detection of his mistake, was put in to sharp relief by the spare nature of the film. A nice touch was the scene where he misinterpets the friendlyness of the room clerk."
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lokisrdeye
16 years ago
love how all Americans get lumped in together, yes Hollywood makes crappy movies because all Americans like them, there are zero imports of films to here.
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