Today is an apt day to finally yell at the world about remakes. Today Tarantino's Inglourius Basterds hits the cinema. Brace yourself, it is a remake. Or based loosely/closely around the film Inglorious Bastards (I can't say, as I haven't seen it yet). Resevoir Dogs has whole sections based right off of City on Fire (Hong Kong film). Tarantino is a high quality filmmaker.
And a lot of his stuff is borderline remakes... or homages as he would say. But still.
It is amazing to me that people cry and cry about stuff being remade constantly. And it is constantly (both the crying and the remaking). But guess what, despite what some people say about modern Hollywood being out of ideas or remakes being a new thing... remakes have been a part of Hollywood since there has been a Hollywood. Seriously.
If something was a book first, does every film based on the work after the first film become a remake? If so the classic Maltese Falcon and Wizard of Oz would be bad news to most. They are not even the SECOND film adaptations of the works and this was back in the 30s.
Would we be better of without the Departed? Martin Scorsese's brilliant modern gangster tale? No, we wouldn't. This film is a direct remake of the great Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs. Scorsese, largely considered to be one of the best directors of all time, also made Cape Fear. You know... another direct remake.
How about the give and take that the samurai and western genres did back in the 60s (OK, westerns mostly took)? Kurosawa's Yojimbo was directly remade with western paint for Leone's For a Fistful of Dollars. Both movies are amazing and this let Leone forge ahead with two fantastic sequels (you know.. that little the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly film). Kurosawa's Seven Samurai got the cowboy paint with Sturges' the Magnificent Seven. All the above mentioned films, remakes or not, clearly enrich the world of cinema.
Now, of course I am not saying all remakes are good. But are all movies good? No. Are MOST movies good? No. But to knee jerk and demonize remakes as "bad" is silly. Just like anything, it comes down to who is making the film and the talent of those involved.
Someone might say... but bad remakes far outweigh the good! This may or may not be true. But even if it is... bad films in general far outweigh the good. Do we stop making movies? The same can be said of book, games, music, anything really. Quality is a rare beast.
So, get off the "stupid remakes" train and enjoy good work no matter where it comes from. We shall end with Oscar Wilde - "Talent borrows, genius steals."
I'll report back on Basterds and a few others by the end of the weekend.
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