Let Me In

It was with a heavy heart I went to see Let Me In, the US re-make of the Swedish film Let The Right One In, which I thought was the best film of 2009. How could it improve on the original? What’s the point in even re-making it? One of the reasons put forward by one of the producers was the laughable excuse that (talking about the Swedish film) “…no one in Glasgow or Edinburgh or Bristol or Idaho or Pittsburgh has seen this film”. Hmm, I believe most of those places would have an art-house cinema or crazier than that…DVD players! Matt Reeves picks up the directorial reigns here with Kodi Smit-McPhee as Owen, a introverted bullied school boy, who befriends new girl in town Abby, played by Chloe Moretz. Abby has a secret to hide…not that Reeves can be bothered to keep us in suspense. The main problem with the film, especially if you’ve seen the original, is the dumbing down of the original story. What were subtle touches in the original, some left to the viewers discretion, are now clumsily signposted. When Abby attacks (the attacks themselves are speeded up and look pretty stupid) she has white eyes! The school bully’s a bully because he was bullied by his brother! It’s just impossible to review this without comparison to the original and in virtually every sense, Reeves fails to match what has gone before. Even the famous “drawing back of the curtains” scene in the hospital is ruined by a telegraphed set up and some dodgy CGI. The one improvement is the scene in which Abby’s guardian is caught attempting to secure Abby’s next meal. It’s a classic lesson in building tension and is excellently marshaled by Reeves. Of course, this begs the question as to why Reeves couldn’t reach such heights elsewhere instead of just blatant copying the original or undermining it. I know I’m being quite critical with this review and to be fair, if you haven’t seen the original or read the book, then you should enjoy the film. However, Tomas Alfredson, director of Let The Right One In, sums it up perfectly; "If one should remake a film, it's because the original is bad. And I don't think mine is".

The OC Film Sting Final Verdict
An average film at best. An awful one compared to the original. Some nice touches from Reeves, but this was always going to struggle against such an illustrious parent. Rating: 5/10.