A remake of Alfred Hitchock's classic.
You know the plot--A woman (Anne Heche) steals a large amount of money so she and her boyfriend (Viggo Mortensen) can start a life together. During the drive to his town, it gets late and she decides to spend the night at a motel. It's called Bates Motel and she meets the owner Norman Bates (Vince Vaughn)...
To be totally honest I never liked the original. It was well-directed and pretty well-acted with a great music score and great direction--but I always found it kind of slow and dull. Still--this remake was not needed. Why a talented director like Gus van Sant chose to do this is beyond me. But FOR WHAT IT IS...it's actually pretty good.
It's NOT a frame by frame remake of the original like some people claim. Things are changed. Van Sant shot the murder scenes differently--a wise choice. Imitating Hitchcock's ones wouldn't have worked. Characters and situations are updated (purportedly Julianne Moore's character is supposed to be a lesbian--but I never caught that) and van Sant directs it (mostly) his way. A few times he does direct it the way Hitchcock would but not all the time.
Also the acting is almost uniformly great. Heche is very good in her role and Vaughn is (surprisingly) just terrific as Bates--he plays it differently than Anthony Perkins did and actually adds a new dimension to the character. He plays Norman as a little boy trapped in a man's body...but you also see the anger and violence lurking right underneath the surface. Strong support is given by Julianne Moore and William H. Macy (VERY good) in supporting roles. The only disappointment is Viggo Mortensen. I've never thought he was a good actor and this movie does nothing to change my mind. The southern accent he adopts is particularly silly.
I'm not really sure why but this movie seems to move faster than the original. I still think there was no point to remaking the original but I do like this. It was a HUGE critical and commercial bomb so I don't think we'll be seeing anymore Hitchcock remakes.
I give it a 7.
You know the plot--A woman (Anne Heche) steals a large amount of money so she and her boyfriend (Viggo Mortensen) can start a life together. During the drive to his town, it gets late and she decides to spend the night at a motel. It's called Bates Motel and she meets the owner Norman Bates (Vince Vaughn)...
To be totally honest I never liked the original. It was well-directed and pretty well-acted with a great music score and great direction--but I always found it kind of slow and dull. Still--this remake was not needed. Why a talented director like Gus van Sant chose to do this is beyond me. But FOR WHAT IT IS...it's actually pretty good.
It's NOT a frame by frame remake of the original like some people claim. Things are changed. Van Sant shot the murder scenes differently--a wise choice. Imitating Hitchcock's ones wouldn't have worked. Characters and situations are updated (purportedly Julianne Moore's character is supposed to be a lesbian--but I never caught that) and van Sant directs it (mostly) his way. A few times he does direct it the way Hitchcock would but not all the time.
Also the acting is almost uniformly great. Heche is very good in her role and Vaughn is (surprisingly) just terrific as Bates--he plays it differently than Anthony Perkins did and actually adds a new dimension to the character. He plays Norman as a little boy trapped in a man's body...but you also see the anger and violence lurking right underneath the surface. Strong support is given by Julianne Moore and William H. Macy (VERY good) in supporting roles. The only disappointment is Viggo Mortensen. I've never thought he was a good actor and this movie does nothing to change my mind. The southern accent he adopts is particularly silly.
I'm not really sure why but this movie seems to move faster than the original. I still think there was no point to remaking the original but I do like this. It was a HUGE critical and commercial bomb so I don't think we'll be seeing anymore Hitchcock remakes.
I give it a 7.