What was the worst American remake of a foreign movie you've seen after watching the original version?
2d 11h ago by piefed.social/u/Shadow79 in asklemmy@lemmy.ml
For me, it has to be "Old Boy" which is originally a Korean movie but the US version sucks so much that it remains incomparable. Another contender is "The Ring" again a Japanese movie (the ending differs between both versions, as the original one refers to the protagonist's father sacrificing himself but the remake states that the cursed tape is being sent to someone else, passing the omen towards another stranger).
Solaris, the new version is decent but it's a totally different movie and just can't do the original justice.
Second place for me is girl with the dragon tattoo. The original is just better.
Amazing, came here to basically say the same thing about these two. Thanks kind stranger!
I don't disagree, but have to say that I love the new Solaris' soundtrack.
The Magnificent Seven is fine.
Seven Samurai, however, blows it out of the water.
Every Kurosawa film blows it's Western counterpart out of the water
I dunno, seven samurai is the kurosawa film for me. But the magnificent seven stands on its own as a classic of the same caliber.
I've seen both dozens of times (more for SS tbh), and I don't know that I can point to one or the other as better, not in totality.
I disagree.
I love both movies, and think that the american version can stand on its own.
Battle Royale. The US remake was called something like the hunger games and wasn’t as good…
Christ the hunger games was bad
I don’t know if it’s the worst, but Speak No Evil (2022) has to be up there. It’s a bleak Danish-Dutch horror movie about the dangers of being a people-pleaser and ignoring red flags out of politeness. The 2024 American remake turned it into a pretty typical Hollywood horror movie with a happy ending, which completely undermines the whole point of the original.
"The Upside" is really shitty US-remake of the beautiful film "The Intouchables"
"Les Intouchables" but yes, agreed. Why did they need to do that ?
Probably an unpopular opinion, but The Departed. They dumbed down Infernal Affairs for western audiences. The shot of the rat at the end wasn't clever and the entire movie was like an unnecessary terrible Disney remake of an original that didn't need remaking.
I watched Departed twice, not knowing it was a remake and I enjoyed it quite a bit. But after seeing Inferal Affairs I have to agree the Departed is a bit too "extra", and the original is way more rewatchable than the remake
Netflix Death Note movie if you consider the Japanese Live Action Death Note movies as the original, but technically the manga is the original.
Iron Man. I watched Tetsuo, and... If you know, you know.
Was definitely disappointed they didn't give Tony Stark a drill for a dick like in the original.
Iron man without a gay metal fetishist romance is a crime
Taxi (2004) was inspired by the French movie of the same name from 1998, and Just Visiting (2001) was based on Les Visiteurs (1993), they are both hollow, sterilized versions of the originals and made the fatal mistake of thinking they could just swap out the setting while keeping the plot, something that almost never works.
The original Taxi is a gritty, high octane love letter to the sun drenched city of Marseille and the broader French Riviera, it thrives in the collision of two distinct worlds, a taxi driver hailing from the low income suburbs of the city and the fancier world of career law enforcement, uniting against a common enemy in a chaotic investigation.
Les Visiteurs is a genius satire about the collision of medieval religious values and modern consumer society, making equal fun of spirituality and materialism through its various characters.
Just watch the originals with subtitles.
I gotta watch the original Taxi again, thanks for the reminder. Adding to my stremio library :D
not a movie, but the american remake of 'the good doctor' is an almost complete inversion of the south korean original. Instead of a wholesome and inclusive community accepting the talented weirdo and humanising him as a character over the course of many humanising interactions, we get a talented actor going full regard as his character spergs out and shows through his work performance how superior he is to normals.
Also the original had a quite substantial subplot about their hospital beuarocracy dealing with a larger threat of privatisation. The issue is never fully resolved and the audience is left to linger with the uneasy sense that health outcomes are jeapardised by more than simple non-conformity. The american version celebrates the individual without addressing anything of substance
The american version celebrates
the individuala cult of personality without addressing anything of substance.
Fixed
Probably Old Boy for me. I didn't bother watching it though so.
Really, the original is pretty much perfect. Why would anyone try to make a remake of that is beyond me.
The eye
Korean horror. The u.s one is bad like how the old boy remake is bad.
The original was a Pang Brothers film. Like. The audacity to think they could do better.
The Ring was pretty good. I've seen both and I prefer the US version.
The only answer here is all of them...
Nah, Funny Games was an English language version of the Euro version.
That film is dark AF though.
Funny Games shouldn't really count because it's the same director with an actual budget to do what he wanted to do in the first place.
I didn’t realise that. But I agree.
I never realised. And I still like the original better.
I didn't know they remade that one. I watched the original for the first time a few months ago.
Excellent film, but yikes-a-rooni
I never saw The Departed but it won Martin Scorsese his only oscar so it must be good. I've only seen the original Infernal Affairs and I quite enjoyed it.
There are some very notorious TV show remakes, too
I was just wondering if I should bring up Cowboy Bebop here
I remember watching Cordon which is a Belgian TV series that aired in 2014 but there's also an American remake under another name containment, the only thing they have in common are that the character's names are exactly the same with differences being that their settings take place else where respective of their regions.
I enjoyed Utopia, and would have liked to see what else they had in store.
I think I got halfway through the first season of the British version, but not for anything the show did. I just kind of ran out of steam.
Force Majeur with fucking Will Ferrell was certainly a choice
Breathless
One of my favorite movies of all time is "Let the Right one In" ("Låt den rätte komma in"), a Swedish romantic horror film. There is an American remake called "Let Me In". The pacing, mood, and atmosphere of the remake don't even come close the original. I believe the American versions of foreign films are often more expensive, polished, and with better actors, but I don't need that to enjoy a film. One recent example is "Bugonia" which was nominated for 4 academy awards and is very well made, yet I enjoyed the Korean original "Save the Green Planet!" just as much.
Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift. Initial D is much better.
Is it really? It wasn’t even a fully Japanese movie.
Maybe not the worst, but Nikita is better than Point of No Return.