Watched the newer Cape Fear movie last night after coming
back from the lake. Usually remakes are sorta vapid, but this
one was excellent. My problem with movie scripts is that the
changes often alter the original impact of the novel without
replacing it with anything worthwhile. Whereas JDM's novel
was fairly straightforward, Scoresese added shades of gray to
the white and black hats by revealing that Sam has suppressed
evidence that might have freed Cady, and where Mitchum was
just a badass Cady, DeNiro becomes a brilliant psychological
master, playing the rest of the characters like puppets. The
filming was superb. I liked the opening of the movie showing
the scary tattoos on DeNiro's back and his tensed muscles and
then, in the background, the books he has been reading. I
liked the color tweaks where the film looks like a negative.
Good acting too, except I thought Mitchum and Peck were both
sorta mediocre. I had forgotten they were in the movie, and
until watching it, I hadn't understood the significance
(irony?) of their place in the movie. I liked the ending
better than JDM's book or the first movie. Although the movie
ending wasn't even close to the book, I thought it had the
intensity of JDM's DEEP BLUE GOODBYE ending.
My only complaint is that I thought the sexuality might have
been a bit overplayed. Now don't get me wrong. I have nothing
at all against Jessica Lange's bare shoulders, but it still
seemed like all that was laid on a bit heavy. Somebody
mentioned the thing between DeNiro and Juliette Lewis struck
them as absurd, but I thought it was effective. It displayed
Lewis teetering on edge of innocence and DeNiro's consider-
able manipulative powers.
miker
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