Let Me In

Let Me In is the American remake of the 2008 Swedish arthouse hit, Let the right One In, adapted from John Ajvide Lindqvist’s novel. This horror/coming of age vampire story focuses on the friendship between bullied 12-year-old, Owen (Kodi Smit-McPhee) and his vampire neighbour, eternally 12-year-old Abby (Chloe Moretz). Coming so soon after the acclaimed foreign language original, is this an unnecessary remake?

While the original is a superior film, Matt Reeve’s (Cloverfield) remake is not without its charms. Wisely the American director has stuck close to the source material, with the snowy landscapes of a small New Mexico town standing in for the wintry Swedish countryside. Like its predecessor, Let Me In defies genre- avoiding the gothic romance and mythology of most vampire stories. Although there are scenes of violence, they are just as frequent in Owen’s world of school bullies as Abby’s world of blood thirst.

Let Me In’s ability to stand as a film in its own right is boosted by excellent performances from the two young actors who navigate the film’s dangerous world of prepubescence. Australian actor Smit-McPhee (The Road) perfectly transmits Owen’s sense of isolation and Kick-Ass star Moretz further proves her impressive acting chops. The film is buoyed by a fantastic supporting cast including Richard Jenkins (The Visitor) as Abby’s father/familiar and supreme character actor Elias Koteas (The Killer Inside Me) as the police inspector.

There is a certain heavy-handed sentimentality to Reeve’s film, which affects the film both positively and negatively. The closeness of Owen and Abby’s relationship is textured by the film’s sweeter moments, but the soundtrack is completely over-the-top and distracting. Surprisingly the film’s special effects are poor, Abby’s vampiric transformations jar with the surrounding action. However Australian DoP Greig Fraser (Bright Star) has done another incredible job with beautiful and exciting visuals, particularly some exceptionally shot car sequences.

Reeve can’t claim any originality with this film, but that shouldn’t take away from what has been accomplished. Respecting the nuances of the book and the first version, he has delivered a good film that will bring a wider audience to this superbly dark tale.

3.5/5

First Published in The Brag (11/10/2010)

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The Karate Kid

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The 1984 original The Karate Kid, starring Ralph Macchio as Daniel Larusso and Noriyuki ‘Pat’ Morita as Mr. Miyagi has a special place in most children of the 80s hearts. A story not just about Japanese martial arts, but also about the cross-cultural, father-son relationship that develops between the lead characters. This is a movie that has gone down in family film history. It is therefore not surprising that when the Smith family (Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith produced the film) were looking for a project for eleven year old Jaden (Pursuit of Happyness) they turned to this 80s classic.

It is fair enough to go into this film with trepidation; not only is it a remake of one of your childhood favourites, it also appears to be a fairly inaccurate one. Set in China and utilising the martial art of Kung-Fu, the title seems oddly redundant (interestingly the film is titled Best Kid in Japan) But in terms of story-arc the 2010 reboot wisely sticks to the original plotline and whilst it doesn’t come up to the standards of its namesake, it is still an enjoyable and entertaining film in its own right.

Directed by Harald Zwart (The Pink Panther 2), the film follows mother, Sherry (Taraji P. Henson, Date Night) and son, twelve year old Dre (Jaden Smith) as they move from Detroit to Beijing. Not happy about the move and feeling isolated in a foreign land, Dre becomes the target of kung-fu trained bullies, led by Cheng (played by a superbly menacing, Zhenwei Wang). Cheng and his friends are bigger and stronger than Dre and have been trained to show their opponents no mercy. Dre’s life in China looks set to be miserable until he is saved from a beating by Mr Han (Jackie Chan), his building’s maintenance man.

Jaden Smith certainly has the charm and screen presence to carry a film, and also the physical and mental stamina. Trained for months by Jackie Chan’s stunt team- Smith is one impressive athletic, as too are all the child actors involved. However there are definite weaknesses to this film, the most obvious being the blown-out running length, no family film should run 140 mins.

While the connection between Smith and Chan is really good when the film is running at fun training montage level, with Smith showing himself to be as hugely likeable an actor as Chan, the story doesn’t hold up as well during the more serious moments. This is probably due to the immaturity of Smith, both as an actor and character; in the original, Daniel Larusso is a teenager, Dre is a few years younger. It is the father-son bond that develops in the original film, that is most missed in this remake; the physical transformation of Dre is handled well, but sadly the emotional one is not fully realised.

Showing both Beijing and Kung-Fu in the best possible light, this updated The Karate Kid film is pleasing to look at and easy to watch. As a children’s film it is the perfect thing to take a younger cousin or niece and nephew along to as an excuse to engage in your own bit of childhood nostalgia. It is up to you to decide whether to show them the original beforehand or not.

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First published on Trespass