Straw Dogs (2011)
Screenwriter David Sumner and his wife Amy decide to move back to Amy’s hometown in Mississippi to get rid of the city and its hectic nature. However, after arrival it quickly becomes clear that the locals have their own ideas and ways of doing things.
While David tries to keep the peace and fit in, his attempts seem to do little more than make him look weak and as tension between Amy and her former highschool love Charlie rises the clash between two distinct lifestyles is getting nearer.
Sound and Vision:
Straw Dogs comes with decent but far from perfect image quality. Many interior shots lack detail in the background and blacks that appear murky. Exterior shots look better with good brightness and contrast.
The sound on the other hand is much better. The music score slides into the rear speakers while dialogues are crisp and well-positioned, the effects also are nicely positioned and bass nicely supports the action scenes.
Extras:
– Courting Controverse: The remake of a classic
– The Dynamics of power: the cast
– Inside the Siege: Stunts
– Creating the Summer House: production design
– Audio commentary track by Rod Lurie
Some nice extras but overall a bit lacking in depth
Conclusion:
Straw Dogs is a remake of the movie with the same name by Sam Peckinpah from 1971. Unfortunately, Rod Lurie shows he’s no Peckinpah. The story matches the original quite a lot, but the subtle differences along with the lack of cohesion make that the explosive ending seems to come a bit as an over-the-top and “unexpected” eruption that seems out of place.
The balance between the characters is a bit off. James Marsden’s David is a city boy who tries to fix things with talking, Kate Bosworth’s Amy seems to beg to get raped (yes, I’m not proud of having to say that), and one would almost feel sorry for Alexander Skarsgard’s Charlie who at a certain moment clearly gets played by Amy. And then I’m not even talking about James Woods who’s role is confined to a typical redneck without much depth. As you can see, the movie clearly isn’t balanced right.
5.0