(This post will have spoilers, though I'll try to keep them only to the remake.)
After watching the original last night, I'm afraid I have to agree with the stinky foreigners on this one, present company excluded, of course. The few brilliant scenes in the remake -- and all that comes to mind right now is the dog, the stadium, and the interrogation -- are really only brilliant because they directly replicated those moments from the original.
Bits that I thought were weak in the remake, for example, the bad guy becoming a person of interest solely based on him glancing at the victim in a photograph, are in the original significantly shored up, in this case by multiple creepy photographs of the same guy lurking in the background.
The actress in the Nicole Kidman role also has the distinct advantage of not being Nicole Kidman, though, conversely, the actor in the Chiwetel Ejiofor role has the distinct disadvantage of not being Chiwetel Ejiofor. (I'll admit that he grew on me as the movie went on.) What tips this ultimately in the original's favor is the Pablo Sandoval role, which, in addition to being one of the most amazing performances ever, is the heart and soul of the movie. His passion speech was unforgivably mangled in the remake and his absence is not in any way made up for by the Dean Norris character.
One thing that made more sense in the remake, though it was certainly convoluted, was the reason why the bad guy got released. In the remake, he's already working for the counter-terrorism bureau when he commits the crime. In the original, he's recruited by some bizarre Argentine version of the Dirty Dozen program. I am vaguely aware of South America's difficulties with rebels and guerrillas, and this is set in the turbulent seventies, so it's probably not at all out of place, but I did feel like a little more information was warranted. That said, holy christ did I LOVE the elevator scene; what was rendered maudlin in the remake is in the original both hilarious and horrifying.
Overall, beyond Nicole Kidman's inability to act like a normal human being, what really kills the remake is its bland direction. As I said, the only moments that showed any flare of brilliance are straight up, frame-by-frame replications of the original. That amazing Dodgers stadium shot, where for a moment you think you're watching a Fincher film, is done even better as a soccer/football stadium in the original.
In short, I strongly recommend you watch the stinky foreigner version. This is not a Fincher/Dragon Tattoo improvement, it's a fruitless and, at times, painfully misguided attempt to tell a brilliant story in the most disjointed way possible. (The back-and-forth with the past and present is not nearly as prevalent or whiplash inducing.)
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