Our good friends at Artsploitation Films sent us their upcoming release, Reckless for review.
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| "Dude, where did you hide the crack rocks?" |
Original ideas in Hollywood film
are increasingly difficult to find anymore, particularly with just how many
English language remakes of foreign films continue to get made to appease
moviegoers who don’t feel like reading subtitles for two hours. The remake trend is usually reserved for the
American studios but every now and again, it’s the other way around. Such is the case with the new Dutch film Reckless, a straight up note for note remake of the stylish 2009 British
kidnapping thriller The Disappearance of Alice Creed.
A tense yet straightforward thriller
concerning two criminals who kidnap a woman and imprison her in a soundproofed
room for ransom money from her wealthy father, the original as well as the remake
derive much of their claustrophobic power from the minimal cast of characters
and enclosed set pieces. Although well
executed with strong performances and slick technical merits to boot, one has
to wonder while watching it the validity of copying someone else’s work with
little to differentiate itself from the source.
I’m not ready to dismiss Reckless altogether, as what is here still works really well and those
unfamiliar with The
Disappearance of Alice Creed will still come
away with a solid neo noir crime thriller with many unexpected twists and
turns. To be fair Reckless makes it pretty apparent in the credits that it’s based directly off of
The
Disappearance of Alice Creed, providing
newcomers the choice to check out the original should they want to. Both movies sport a resourceful and
surprising heroine with more tricks up her sleeve than meets the eye. Most of the movie takes place inside the
soundproof room where the woman is held captive as she tries to outsmart her
captors with words and emotional manipulation.
As previously mentioned, the acting by the three leads is pretty good
overall with the two captors proving to be far more vulnerable than we were
previously lead to believe. Visually
it’s a slick micro-budget noir with a mixture of open widescreen vistas and
tight claustrophobic close ups of the actors’ faces and the soundtrack will
conjure up connections to Cliff Martinez’ score for Drive.
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| "Does this scene look familiar?" |
Overall there’s enough to
recommend Reckless
to the uninitiated viewer but those who already
know The
Disappearance of Alice Creed will be of two
minds about it as virtually every facet of the originator’s plot and
audiovisual design is copied verbatim by the remake. Watching both movies side by side, you’d be
hard pressed to tell the two apart including but not limited to the same
costume design. It’s worth noting the
original didn’t aspire to be much more than a modestly sized kidnapping and
ransom thriller designed to entertain and the remake doesn’t try to be much
more than that either. If anything it
proves Tinseltown is not the only place on the planet remaking everything on
the other side of the ocean. While we’re
quick to gripe about the death of originality in Hollywood and the plagiaristic
borrowing of ideas and motifs from other nations, let’s not forget the rest of
the world does it just as much as we do.
The
Disappearance of Alice Creed was one hell of
a hostage thriller and as a remake, however close to the original it may be,
it’s a solid reinterpretation.
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-Andrew Kotwicki