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The Lists: The 10 Best Movie Remakes of the 2000s! Part II
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Leonardo DiCaprio goes deep undercover in Martin Scorsese's crime epic The Departed, a remake of the Hong Kong classic Infernal Affairs. Photo: Warner Brothers
The 2000s have been a breeding ground for remakes. In 2009 alone, there was one remake for almost every month of the year. Movie aficionados have a reason to be upset when pictures they love are butchered and watered down for American audiences. To most, remakes are unnecessary because if you’ve already captured lightning in a bottle the first time around, why try it again? You’re bound to fail. A remake is only warranted if the original film is a turkey or if you’re going to bring something completely new to the table.
CLICK HERE to go back and read PART I of the 10 Best Movie Remakes of the 2000s.
Christian Bale and Russell Crowe hope to catch te 3:10 To Yuma.
Photo: Lionsgate
#5.) 3:10 TO YUMA (2007)
3:10 to Yuma is the best western released this decade! Mostly forgotten by awards groups in 2007, a year with many great films, this remake of the 1957 Glen Ford western sees desperate farmer and Civil War veteran, played by Christian Bale, burdened with the task of transporting an infamous outlaw played by Russell Crowe, to prison via the 3:10 train to Yuma. While I haven’t seen the original film, I’m willing to wager that this remake lives up to the story and events portrayed in the original. Both Crowe and Bale give solid performances in the film but it is Ben Foster as a psychotic, over-dedicated right-hand-man of Crowe’s character who steals most of the spotlight. While the film delivers on the action front, it is more memorable for its strong characters and dialogue-driven scenes.
3:10 To Yuma (1957) Trailer: #4.) OCEAN'S ELEVEN (2001) Let’s get this out of the way – The 2001 remake of the original 1960 Ocean’s Eleven is a far superior film in every regard. Better acting, better story, better direction, and just plain cooler than the Rat Pack! Yea, I said it! Sinatra, Dean Martin and gang may be the better entertainers but they definitely weren’t better filmmakers. Entertainment Weekly said it best when they described the original as “an exercise in cinematic masturbation.” Under the direction of Steven Soderbergh, fresh of his Oscar winning one-two punch of Traffic and Erin Brockovich, the remake becomes a fun and stylish entertainer studded with a galaxy of stars led by George Clooney and Brad Pitt and supported by Julia Roberts, Matt Damon, Andy Garcia and Don Cheadle among others. To top that, the film is accented by an addicting soundtrack and is so splendidly shot that it could double for a Las Vegas tourism advertisement. This is one cool movie! Ocean's Eleven (1960) Trailer: #3.) KING KONG (2005) Peter Jackson’s superb remake of the 1933 classic gets flack for dwelling on excess and prolonging a relatively short story into a three hour epic. While these criticisms are valid, Jackson’s film is never boring and remains remarkable faithful to the source material while building on the adventure and action on Skull Island and also making the characters’ relationships believable. The best change is the relationship between Ann Darrow and Kong himself. In the original, Darrow fears the beast but in the remake, the relationship becomes one of trust with Kong as her protector. It’s this key relationship that separates Jackson’s remake from the original and gives it an identity of its own, even if the films work superbly as companion pieces. Like Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy, King Kong is magnificently photographed and boasts some of the best technical achievements of the decade. The eponymous title character is one of the most stunning CGI creations captured on film. Jackson’s crew deservedly won three Oscars for their work..jpg)
George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Elliot Gould and Don Cheadle
prepare to get ready for one busy night in Vegas. Photo: Warner Brothers
"It was beauty killed the beast!" Kong and Ann Darrow reflect on top of the
Empire State Building in Peter Jackson's King Kong. Photo: Universal
King Kong (1933) Trailer:
#2.) CASINO ROYALE (2006) While the original 1967 adaptation of Casino Royale was a satire on James Bond, it’s still a terrible film. It’s a good thing then that the rights of the novel reverted back to EON Productions, the company behind the Bond franchise. Using Ian Fleming’s story as the ground-work for rebooting the then-stale franchise, Casino Royale, directed by Martin Campbell (who also directed Pierce Brosnan in Goldeneye) introduced the world to Daniel Craig as 007 whose portrayal of Bond as a gritty, unpolished, and arrogant killer not only received universal acclaim, but made the franchise fresh and relevant again. What separated Casino Royale from most Bond adventures weren’t the intense Bourne-like action sequences but the surprisingly strong and layered story, something not seen in a Bond film since the Connery days. For Bond fans around the world, it was a sigh of relief. Finally, the 21st century had a Bond film that was a real espionage story and not a violent cartoon! Casino Royale (1967) Trailer: #1.) THE DEPARTED (2006) Infernal Affairs (2002) Trailer: THE WORST: PLANET OF THE APES (2001): What was Tim Burton thinking? Great makeup effects and Tim Roth cannot save your movie from a terribly weak script and an ending that has to be regarded as one of the worst endings of all time! THE INVASION (2007): The definition of a pointless remake, The Invasion looked like it was directed over the phone. Terribly paced and unevenly acted, this remake didn’t even understand the whole purpose of the original film. THE WICKER MAN (2006): Ahh, not the bees, not the bees! Ahh, my eyes, my eyes!! ABOUT THIS COLUMN: Everyone loves lists and Top 10s! However, everyone knows that The Godfather is the best gangster movie of all time and 2001 is the Best Science Fiction movie of all time. Likewise, it’s almost become a cliché to see The Exorcist on top of every best horror movie list while it’s hard to argue against Casablanca on top of the romance lists. While these lists are almost always fun to read through, they’ve been done so many times that you more or less know what’s going to come out on top. So I figured, since the decade is coming to an end in two months, why not run with the end of the decade theme and do lists with only films released between 2000 and 2009. Previous Lists:
Daniel Craig reinvents James Bond in Casino Royale. Photo: MGM
Leonardo DiCaprio and Jack Nicholson smell a rat! Photo: Warner Brothers
Was there any doubt that The Departed would top this list? Since its release three years ago, Martin Scorsese’s Oscar-winning remake of the award-winning Hong Kong thriller Infernal Affairs has grown in reputation as one of the finest crime films ever made. While there is still debate among fans as to which film is superior, I prefer the Scorsese version. Scorsese takes the plot of Infernal Affairs and makes it into a Shakespearean tragedy, immersing the story deep into the Irish Boston culture, and tackling themes of male identity and bonding – A Scorsese trademark. Add in the director’s energetic direction, Thelma Schoonmaker’s sharp editing, William Monahan’s marvelous script, and award-caliber performances from renowned actors DiCaprio, Damon, Nicholson, Sheen, Baldwin and Mark Wahlberg and you have a 21st century masterpiece! It may not be Scorsese’s best but it’s damn entertaining. To have a complete immersive experience, watch The Departed back-to-back with the Infernal Affairs trilogy. This is movie-making at its finest!.jpg)
"Not the bees, not the bees!" The Wicker Man. Photo: Warner Bros.
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