I liked the remake much more than the original. I had a huge problem with how the parents handled (or didn't handle) things at the end, including letting their daughter be taken away and having her tongue cut out. I do not care how passive anyone is, EVERYONE has a breaking point, especially if their child's life is at stake. There is no guarantee of winning, but just the fact that they actually permitted everything, without fighting back, including their child's fate and their own murders, to me, was absolutely ridiculous, totally absurd.
SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!
I thought the remake was much more realistic. It was annoying throughout that they, like in the original, let themselves be taken advantage of repeatedly, but that was the storyline. However, when it became apparent that the hosts were murderers, at least they tried to fight for themselves and the children. I didn't know who would make it and was surprised that everyone did. I was just glad to see that they tried to fight for their lives, as I would do and as everyone else I've ever known in my whole life would do!
Also, I loved McAvoy's performance. As always, he doesn't disappoint, especially when playing a villain!
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johnnybiscotti (445)
2 months ago
James McAvoy was excellent in the role, I agree. In fact all the performances were pretty good.
I get it that we are expected to want the parents to go into "mama bear" or "protective dad" roles and fight the danger like we saw at the end of this US version of the film, but in real life situations it can be possible that people freeze up or are resigned to give up. Even in this film there was a moment where Ben (dad) is in the attic room and says in a cowardly way "I don't know what to do, I'm sorry". We are conditioned to be angry at this, because surely we would fight to save our family.
The thing about the original that stuck with me was this. Why did they just give up and not fight? Of course if I put myself in their place I would fight, right?
All the other families that came before this one, did they fight? They all lost?
Anyway, I did enjoy watching this film, and if I had not seen the brutally dark ending of the original - I probably would have liked this one a little more. The way the Danish boy (Ant) unleashed his violence on his captor at the end was more violent than what we'd see from a child in American movies, so I'll give them that props.
This wasn't a bad movie, glad you enjoyed it too. I just wish American remakes of foreign movies didn't shy away from the darkness of the originals. (see also the Danish 2018 movie The Guilty, and the US remake)
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jcnyclv (1556)
2 months ago
SPOILERS AHEAD!!!
I did say I was surprised that everyone made it. I thought Ben was not going to at one point and that would have been OK. Sad but OK. The point is that at least he tried to fight for his life and his family.
I think part of what's going on is that there are cultural differences between Americans and Danes and that is perhaps why the Danish family let themselves be murdered and their daughter be mutilated. Maybe Danish audiences would believe that. American audiences would never accept that because it's not the way most Americans would act. You're right in that some people freeze but not most and when there are kids involved it's even less likely. It's human nature to fight for one's life, especially your child's.
In terms of the other families, it's possible Ant communicated better to Agnes than other kids did which gave Agnes the opportunity to alert her parents. Perhaps the other families were truly in the dark until the very end when suddenly injected with the ketamine. I don't know. IMO that's a bit of a flaw. I could see a couple of families but not as many as they were supposed to have murdered.
Speaking of Ant and his violence at the end. Did you get the impression that maybe, just maybe, he was so traumatized that he was going to follow in Paddy's footsteps? He was crying in the car and yet his expression was strange. What was your impression?
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