Is an Original Always better than a Remake?

As the film industry has seemingly found the fountain of ideas has run dry, it has become common place for writers to remake ones that have already been proven popular. Most recently, classic 80s & 90s movies and cult phenomena have been the focus of floundering film writers’ attention, much to the annoyance and disappointment of many film buffs. However, are these movie purists always right to assume that a remake won’t be as good as the original? Or does the use of improved graphics and modernised story telling merely enhance the film and make it more accessible to a new generation of film fans? I looked at the recently released Dredd 3D and Total Recall to make my own mind up.

I initially saw Total Recall (2012); having not seen the original film beforehand, I went into the cinema with little more than a basic idea of the plot and no real expectations of what the film should include. In many respects it was less of a remake and more a re-think or reworking of the original into something wholly more believable. Looking at it as a film in its own right, the story and the science is fairly believable and it is filled with as much action, suspense and general bad-ass stuff as you would expect from any film of its genre. The inclusion of a little back story at the beginning helps a little to understand why certain aspects of the plot are happening but, generally, it feels a little irrelevant. What is nice though is the way in which the audience is allowed to piece the plot together by themselves which, whilst this aspect is present in the original, makes a lot sense in this version. It’s also nice that the new film doesn’t feel it has to spell it out quite as clearly, which can sometimes detracts from the enjoyment of thinking for yourself.

Although the new film is very different in most aspects of its story, there are a fair few throw backs to the original – I’m sure there are many men out there that are pleased to hear that they’ve kept the lady with three breasts – which is quite nice to see; these include all the names being the same, some similar lines and the fat lady in yellow going through customs, though this has been changed a little to create some surprise for film goers who have seen the original. I’m pleased to say, though, that the creepy JohnnyCab drivers have gone – those things are, frankly, scarier than most of the film.

Unlike the two Total Recall films, Dredd 3D and Judge Dredd are very different from one another – the newest is certainly not a sensitive modernisation of the first. Judge Dredd takes more elements from the comic book series it’s based upon; however, you could argue that the newest film is reminiscent of an individual episode and leaves room for one or more follow on to explore other elements from the comics. Aside from this, it is very hard to compare the two films. Whether this is a good or bad thing is hard to decide; by making it so modern and changing the story line so drastically to me makes the idea that it’s a Judge Dredd film seem more of a gimmick as it is, arguably, just like any other action film. Having said that, I can also see that it is a way of interesting a modern audience in the story line and by creating it that way allows for sequels that can expand into the areas of the comic that have yet to be explored. Of course, you could also say that the fact that there were only 7 other people in the cinema with me speaks volumes.

Having said that, I have a bit of a problem with Judge Dredd. For a start, I found the entire plot much too predictable; I was calling the next scene about 5 minutes before it happened. Perhaps in 1995 it wasn’t obvious that he had a twin or that the jet was going to crash or that the old guy was going to walk in just at the right time to save them or anything like that, but for me it was. I also couldn’t stand the scientific inaccuracies. If an embryo split in two, it would make identical twins and whilst they could grow up to be very different people, they would still look the same. I understand the idea is that the DNA in Rico was supposed to have mutated to make him the perfect villain, but the DNA would have had to have been, essentially inverted and DNA doesn’t do that. And, if it did, the encoding on the gun would be different as his and Dredd’s DNA would be different (and yes, this does also summarise my feelings towards the film “Twins” too). Also, the idea that they could create clones the way they did in the film is a scientific impossibility. Even if it wasn’t, they still wouldn’t have had anything programmed into their brains, nor would they have been able to move around like that if their bones and muscles had only been 80% formed. Just saying.

Another thing I’d like to point out, though it’s a little unrelated, is that Dredd 3D has not had many 2D screening for people like myself who feel that 3D is pointless and over-rated (and who get headaches after about 20minutes of watching it) which I think is both a major oversight from the film’s distributers and an unwelcome omen for the future of modern cinema.

With all this in mind, I have come to the conclusion that re-makes can, in some circumstances, be as good as (or perhaps even better) than  the originals. However, if you’re the kind of person that becomes overly emotional and attached to a film, it is perhaps better to stick with your beloved original as it’s likely you’ll find the new one a butchery of your precious original.