You can take your pick. There's The Manchurian Candidate, Dawn of the Dead, Man on Fire, or how about The Stepford Wives? No, this isn't the Spectravision selection at a Saskatchewan Hilton. These venerable quasi-classics have been rethought, rehashed and remade into slick modern spectacles and are revisiting theaters this summer.
Remakes are nothing new but this summer's offerings have a distinctly dated vibe. With the trend continuing into the fall with the release of Wicker Park, Criminal, Shall We Dance?, The Grudge, Footloose and others, 2004 may indeed go down as the Year of the Remake.
A couple of things set this year's crop of remakes apart from other recent retreads. First, instead of contemporizing black-and-white classics of a bygone era, filmmakers have chosen to remake films that aren't really that old to begin with. This creates a problem, since the remake must justify its existence by successfully distinguishing itself from its predecessor without botching the attributes that made the original film successful.
To avoid redundancy, some of the 2004 films have set themselves apart from the originals by affecting a tongue-in-cheek, post-modern irony. So instead of the earnest, preposterous sci-fi of the original Stepford Wives and Dawn of the Dead, both films self-consciously wink at the far-fetched subjects they explore. In The Stepford Wives especially, this creates an uncomfortable feeling of watching a deconstructed collection of performances, special effects and dramatic techniques, rather than a fully realized film. The Stepford Wives is to sci-fi what Charlie's Angels 2 was to action: a metafilm that is so self-aware and smug that it lacks emotional resonance.
One film that successfully navigated this risk was Starsky & Hutch--not technically a movie remake, but rather an adaptation of a 70s television show that not only winked at the original's absurdity but made that the entire focal point of the movie. In the end, it succeeded because it fully embraced satire rather than feigning fidelity to the cheesy show.
The remakes of 2004 are also different from other recent copycats in that the originals are generally well-known films, with the exception of Man on Fire, a relatively obscure original from 1987.
To sell these films to the large number of people who have already seen the originals, producers have come to rely on the same techniques used to successfully market sequels and other unimaginative fare: big stars and cheap gimmicks.
Nicole Kidman, Christopher Walken, Bette Midler, Matthew Broderick, Glenn Close, Jon Lovitz, Faith Hill and other big-names cram awkwardly into The Stepford Wives. And unlike the original, the protagonist now produces reality TV shows. It's a gimmick that misses the mark by a few years, but a gimmick nonetheless. The vaunted Denzel Washington manages to headline two remakes, The Manchurian Candidate and Man on Fire, the latter of which Tony Scott directs with gimmick-a-minute flair. And, in a casting choice that would simultaneously provide both star power and gimmick value, the new Footloose is rumored to include Britney Spears.
What's the final verdict on the Year of the Remake? Yet to be determined. Although the first few remakes of the year have lacked cohesion and purpose, there's a chance one of the upcoming retreads will blow us away. I'm holding out for Footloose.
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