Remakes that are Actually As good/better than the Original

Blisterman

Inspired by this thread. http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055316672

There's so many bad remakes, that it might be easier to list the ones, which are actually good.

So, which remakes do you think are actually better than the original?

One I'd go with is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
The original's a part of my childhood, but I think the Johnny Depp/Tim Burton version is much closer to the original book in terms of Roald Dahl's twisted sense of humour.

GoldenArmz

Blisterman wrote: »

Inspired by this thread. http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055316672

There's so many bad remakes, that it might be easier to list the ones, which are actually good.

So, which remakes do you think are actually better than the original?

One I'd go with is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
The original's a part of my childhood, but I think the Johnny Depp/Tim Burton version is much closer to the original book in terms of Roald Dahl's twisted sense of humour.

I personally think they murdered this. Partly because I can't STAND Johnny Depp, who came across as a deranged paedophile!

For me anyway:

The Ring
Cruel Intentions
The Grudge
Cape Fear

johnny_ultimate

The Departed - Infernal Affairs is still excellent, but Departed is a very well made thriller that adds quite a bit to the original, while staying loyal to the tone and key moments of its inspiration.

King Kong - the original is great but has aged horribly. Jackson's take brought it up to date with a truly enjoyable, very well made blockbuster. A bit long, but a very worthy and loyal remake.

Didn't really like the new Chocolate Factor myself - felt it was a very cold, clinical film compared to the first one with a bad case of CGIitis.

robby^5

Its just out but I thought The Incredible Hulk was miles better than Ang Lee's attempt.

stereoroid

Sometimes a director gets to improve on his own film: a good example is Michael Mann's Heat, which was a remake of his own TV movie L.A. Takedown (1989).

My favourite In the "very loose remake" category is Scarface! The original was a 1932 Howard Hawks film about Al Capone. (I haven't seen the original, but it would have to be really something to top the Brian de Palma / Al Pacino film.)

Another Howard Hawks remake that I thought was better: The Thing (1982 by John Carpenter, starring Kurt Russel) was a remake of The Thing From Another World (1951).

Driver 8

Ocean's Eleven (just the first one admittedly)

Creature

I wouldn't call The Thing or The Incredible Hulk remakes myself. In fact isn't The Incredible Hulk supposed to be a sequel?


My vote goes for The Fly. The amazing effects really made it one hell of a creepy film and Jeff Goldblum's brilliant performance. Well lets just say that before viewing it, I never thought I'd feel such empathy for such a horrible monstrosity. Caught the original when I was quite young. I don't remember much about it aside from watching it with my dad and both of us chuckling away at the man wearing a big rubber fly mask. Scary stuff

Mr E

Might be controversial, but I loved Payback (remake of Point Blank).
Point Blank is a classic, but Payback was incredibly entertaining.

I'm in no doubt that Lee Marvin would kick Mel Gibson's arse, though.
If he was still alive (or came back as a zombie).

unreggd

Night of the Living Dead

&

Dawn of the Dead

Originals were great for their time, but the remakes took wha I liked about them, and upped the anty [or is it actually Aunty??]


+1 for The Departed. I actually didnt know it was a remake til I realised i knew the story! Was easier to follow than IA, although thats prob a case of bein lost in translation
Also, i like the bit they added in the end

Necronomicon

The 1991 remake of Night of the Living Dead was better (and slightly easier) to watch than the original I thought.

Dawn of the Dead 2004 was superb.

I think Alexandre Aja's The Hills Have Eyes was miles better than the original (though why they had to make that tripe of a sequel is another story).

The Thing - I haven't seen the 50's original, but I imagine the John Carpenter version is a bit better!

Death or Glory

3.10 to Yuma

Black Swan

The most recent Pride & Prejudice was the best of all the attempts at screening Austin's novel.

spadder

The Thomas Crown affair.

Wishbone Ash

Ben Hur (1959) - need I say anything more!

The Browning Version (1994) - with the fantastic Albert Finney. The only film that has ever brought me close to tears at the cinema and much better, IMO, than the original 1951(?) version.

humanji

Necronomicon wrote: »

The Thing - I haven't seen the 50's original, but I imagine the John Carpenter version is a bit better!

You're missing out. The original is absolutely hilarious.

As I said in the previous thread, I think the remake of Psycho was better than the original. Even though it was pretty much the exact same film, I think it had a greater cast that gave it a lot of umph.

Galvasean

The Fly
The Thing
Lord of the Rings (Jackson)
King Kong (Jackson)
The Wicker Man (for all the wrong reasons)

faceman

By miles the best remake for me is Heat (1995) which is a remake of L.A. Takedown (1989)

Michael Mann directed both.

niallon

The Thing - The original is a classic but Carpenter just brought so much to it.
Assault On Precinct 13 - Most people like to call this a Rio Bravo remake so I'll include it!
Cape Fear - All in the De Niro
Titanic - Remake of A Night To Remember?

Necronomicon

niallon wrote: »

Assault On Precinct 13 - Most people like to call this a Rio Bravo remake so I'll include it!

Hmmm good call, forgot about this. I can't remember much of Carpenter's, but I thought this was very good.

Rb

unreggd wrote: »

upped the anty [or is it actually Aunty??]

Ante.

Heisenberg.

This post has been deleted.

Gillie

Cape Fear
Thomas Crown Affair

niallon

The Scientist wrote: »

Yep pretty much....
Except Titanic was heavily hollywoodised with the love affair story, it was also in colour and cost about $199.995m more to make than the original.

I would have to say I mega-loathe the film but it's more of a "fair play" attitude I take towards Cameron for pulling it off.

As regards the above post on Assault On Precinct 13, ,we're talking about the original right?

MagicMarker

Flight of the Pheonix remake was really good i thought.

+1 on Dawn of the Dead

FuzzyWuzzyWazza

Man on Fire, there are probably more, but it's almost 6am and I can't think straight.

faceman

niallon wrote: »

I would have to say I mega-loathe the film but it's more of a "fair play" attitude I take towards Cameron for pulling it off.

from a technical aspect, cameron did a good job. however the script and acting was an abomination imo.

L31mr0d

"Last man standing" was a pretty good remake of "A Fistful of Dollars". In fact I prefer the Bruce Willis version to the Clint Eastwood version.

For Karl I feel I have to mention that "A Fistful of Dollars" was originally a remake of "Yojimbo"

Galvasean

niallon wrote: »

Titanic - Remake of A Night To Remember?

Meh, A Night To Remember is the definitive Titanic movie.
The Cameron film was overproduced kak.

+1 Dawn of Dead

Gotta love JC's music at the start after she crashes her car. Quality!

For me its the Departed. Cover of Internal Affairs(Chinese movie?) - still a good movie though.

glomar

the Omen for 2007 was a lot better than the original watched both last weekend and the new one is a lot better

mbv

The Thing is probably the best one.
The original is a great film and one of the best of the old sci fi movies but Carpenter and Bottins FX made the perfect horror film. This is how remakes should be like, not copying the originals script word for word and doing something different with it.
Don't mean to knock glomar's love of the Omen remake but my biggest problem with this was that they essentially tried to use the same script and threw in a mobile phone and a laptop to 'modern it up'.

Cronenbergs 'The Fly' was another that took the original idea and really changed it enough to stand up on it's own.

I also liked the Texas Chainsaw Massacre one. I hated the idea when I heard it was being made as TCM is one of the best horrors ever but again I thought they changed it enough to make it seem more like a sequel than a word for word remake.

Galvasean

glomar wrote: »

the Omen for 2007 was a lot better than the original watched both last weekend and the new one is a lot better

I heartily disagree.

Karl Hungus

L31mr0d wrote: »

"Last man standing" was a pretty good remake of "A Fistful of Dollars". In fact I prefer the Bruce Willis version to the Clint Eastwood version.

For Karl I feel I have to mention that "A Fistful of Dollars" was originally a remake of "Yojimbo"

Can't believe you actually prefer Last Man Standing. I'm all for Yojimbo, but Sergio Leone made one of the greatest remakes of all time.

delbertgrady

I add another vote for The Thomas Crown Affair. The only black mark against it is Sting's faux jazz version of Windmills of Your Mind on the soundtrack.

Nolanger

Wizard of OZ.

ThOnda

MagicMarker wrote: »

Flight of the Pheonix remake was really good i thought.

I am sorry, but I have to strongly disagree. Building up the tension was much better in the original one.