This is a movie that I wish Fincher had directed, especially because I've seen The Game and he's definitely the right guy for a movie with a mystery plot.
But unfortunately, this movie is not really mystery and it more feels like your average rom-com, especially with all the upbeat and happy pop and rock music playing, even during the twists and reveals and the important parts that should not have happy pop songs played during!
This is probably my biggest complaint about the movie and why I didn't really vibe with it as much as I did with Open Your Eyes: The tone and the music choice. What I most loved about the original was how it was shot, the amazing theme and the music that added so much to the mystery and dream feel of the whole movie and the tone of it. For this type of story, I definitely prefer to have this tone and feel over the cheesy Hollywood-style remake that feels more like a rom-com with a happy ending.
I suppose me having watched the original and knowing all the twists and turns of the story did a lot of "damage" to my viewing of this movie and I wonder how I would've felt if I never knew how the story goes and what my reaction to the twists would be. But nonetheless, having seen the original, the twists still have less impact than they did in the original.
In the original, you can actually feel what a d-bag the main character is and how much he loves himself and the beautiful face he has, and his reaction to what happens after is done way better than this one. Tom Cruise obviously does a great job in this movie and this is definitely one of his best performances ever, but the script and the direction are not as good as the original and many things are done way better in there.
The original is under 2 hours and somehow it does a way better job of presenting and telling this story and even telling more than this movie did in a longer run time.
The casting choice (no Tom obviously) is really weird too and some characters like the male friend of the protagonist don't feel like they belong in the universe of this movie.
And the dialogue is just meh, like it's nothing remarkable and I was expecting some better dialogue. Though I cannot deny that Cameron Diaz has the best line of dialogue in the history of cinema and you know what scene I'm talking about.
I also don't really like how it ended and it differs from the original.
My suggestion to someone who can't decide on these two movies is that watch both, but definitely watch the original movie first and then watch this, because despite all my complaints, this is still a well-made movie and I would've probably given it an 8 if I didn't know about the twists and turns and didn't know there was a better movie with the same plot. So watch them both but don't start with the American remake.
But unfortunately, this movie is not really mystery and it more feels like your average rom-com, especially with all the upbeat and happy pop and rock music playing, even during the twists and reveals and the important parts that should not have happy pop songs played during!
This is probably my biggest complaint about the movie and why I didn't really vibe with it as much as I did with Open Your Eyes: The tone and the music choice. What I most loved about the original was how it was shot, the amazing theme and the music that added so much to the mystery and dream feel of the whole movie and the tone of it. For this type of story, I definitely prefer to have this tone and feel over the cheesy Hollywood-style remake that feels more like a rom-com with a happy ending.
I suppose me having watched the original and knowing all the twists and turns of the story did a lot of "damage" to my viewing of this movie and I wonder how I would've felt if I never knew how the story goes and what my reaction to the twists would be. But nonetheless, having seen the original, the twists still have less impact than they did in the original.
In the original, you can actually feel what a d-bag the main character is and how much he loves himself and the beautiful face he has, and his reaction to what happens after is done way better than this one. Tom Cruise obviously does a great job in this movie and this is definitely one of his best performances ever, but the script and the direction are not as good as the original and many things are done way better in there.
The original is under 2 hours and somehow it does a way better job of presenting and telling this story and even telling more than this movie did in a longer run time.
The casting choice (no Tom obviously) is really weird too and some characters like the male friend of the protagonist don't feel like they belong in the universe of this movie.
And the dialogue is just meh, like it's nothing remarkable and I was expecting some better dialogue. Though I cannot deny that Cameron Diaz has the best line of dialogue in the history of cinema and you know what scene I'm talking about.
I also don't really like how it ended and it differs from the original.
My suggestion to someone who can't decide on these two movies is that watch both, but definitely watch the original movie first and then watch this, because despite all my complaints, this is still a well-made movie and I would've probably given it an 8 if I didn't know about the twists and turns and didn't know there was a better movie with the same plot. So watch them both but don't start with the American remake.