Sorry, fandom, remakes are a part of the fabric of Hollywood history

As seemingly every movie these days is a remake, reboot, prequel, sequel, or lifted from a popular source material, it’s easy to get jaded about the state of creativity in Hollywood. However, remakes and adaptations have been a part of the fabric of cinema for its entire history and includes some of the cinematic pantheon. Some of the greats, like The Godfather and Gone With the Wind are adapted from popular fiction novels, almost verbatim. Other remakes take foreign source material and recontextualize it in America, like The Departed and The Magnificent Seven. In terms of pure reboots/remakes, however, there’s a broad spectrum of what succeeds and what most decidedly does not, and for a wide variety of reasons.

The Best

The best remakes and reboots don’t just recycle plot points and nouns, they reimagine the story and situation for a new generation of audiences, and usually replace the original in cultural memory.

For me, one of the best examples of a pure remake is:

Ocean’s 11 (1960)/Ocean’s Eleven (2001) — The parallels between Sinatra’s Rat Pack and Clooney’s… uh… Brad Pitt Pack? were explicitly a part of why this movie was made, how this movie was marketed, and why this movie worked. As a “remake,” Ocean’s Eleven hits every note and checks every mark perfectly. It isn’t pretending to be something it isn’t and it doesn’t ignore visual and rhetorical callbacks to the Rat Pack Era. And, y’know what? It works. It’s a fun movie that serves as a snapshot of the an era of Hollywood royalty. If you’re going to remake a movie, you could do worse than the first Ocean’s Eleven.

Honorable Mention:

Judge Dredd (1995)/Dredd (2012) — There’s a big soft spot in my heart for the original, starring Sly Stallone and Armand Asante. It was campy and violent when all we wanted from our sci-fi/fantasy movies was campy and violent. When Pete Travis’ Dredd came out I was expecting the worst. Instead, we got one of the best movies of 2012. It’s not just a straight reboot or a remake, but a whole new story with stunning new visual effects. And how many movies can get away with its superstar protagonist never showing his face?

The Worst

A fair amount of criticism toward the current reboot culture of Hollywood is its incessant need to “redo” classic movies. A basic rule of thumb for remakes should be that if you can’t do better than the original, don’t. But it doesn’t have to be a “classic” in order for the remake to fall short.

Banlieue 13 (2004)/Brick Mansions (2015) — Here’s an example of a foreign property that became a cult hit in America. The French film’s simple plot served to introduce American audiences to parkour and starred David Belle and Cyril Raffaelli. Brick Mansions is, unfortunately, more notable as Paul Walker’s last film than it is as a film in itself. David Belle and RZA give memorable performances and the movie is fine, but the whole thing is nothing but an American translation of B13.

Honorable Mention:
(Placeholder for Ghostbusters. C’mon, you knew that was coming.)