Straw Dogs 2011 Stands on it’s Own with Shaky Limbs
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When looking at Straw Dogs 2011 as a stand alone film it is an interesting story with an improbable outcome. When compared to the 1971 original it is sickly.
Written by The Horror Czar
December 29, 2011
Release: September 16, 2011 (U.S. Theatrical)
Directed by: Rod Lurie
Written by: Rod Lurie (screenplay), David Zelag Goodman - Writer (earlier screenplay), Sam Peckinpah - Writer (earlier screenplay), Gordon Williams - Writer (novel "The Siege of Trencher's Farm")
Starring:
James Marsden as David Sumner
Kate Bosworth as Amy Sumner
Alexander Skarsgård as Charlie
James Woods as Tom Heddon
Dominic Purcell as Jeremy Niles
Rhys Coiro as Norman
David Sumner (Played by James Marsden, sharing a name with my youngest brother) is a hipster writer-type with more money than sense and a beautiful bride (Kate Bosworth) who originates from “somewhere so far in the sticks and full of rednecks that it’s hard to believe this isn’t a pre-civil war movie” Mississippi. For some reason David gets this bright idea that he’s going to move out to the redneckville sticks with his wife and start some kind of “Little House on the Prairie” life or something – a death in his wife’s family prompted a move to the little slice of “pre-electricity” land and he seems bound and determined to stay.
Perhaps David wants to stay because the raw naturalism and masculinity of the boys his bride used to hang with makes him feel like quite a pansy and he wants to prove himself a testosterone-laden macho beast… but, in fact, he actually is a soft pansy boy who likely uses more hair product than Britney Spears and would panic if his soft and lotion covered hands ever saw the beginnings of a callous.
In an effort to fit in David hires his wife’s ex-boyfriend and his buddies to do some work around his homestead, and as they move in and David begins to push back, his very survival will depend on his ability to grow a pair.
There are two ways to look at Straw Dogs 2011, as a
stand-alone movie and as a remake of a classic and brilliant film from
1971 starring Dustin Hoffman. As a stand alone Straw Dogs
is a well acted and a marginally-well crafted story, but the
metro-sexual nature of David Sumner is a bit off and on… it’s clear
that James Marsden is more at ease with the down-home villains than the
softer than Chanel character they make him out to be. The transition
from candy-ass to ass-kicker is a bit hard to accept because the
ass-kicker shines through from the beginning; that, along with the fact
that the sheer ignorance of the country folk is so exaggerated that the
film’s attempt at metamorphosis 
never
really gels, keeps the film from
being actually intriguing or meaningful. From the standpoint of
action-hero sensibility, Straw Dogs 2011 is exciting and fun
with lots of great violence scenes, but the attackers could just as
well have been Iranian terrorists or members of the Mexican drug cartel
as redneck ex-football players who now work construction. A concept as
interesting and complex as the clash between city-borne masculinity and
that of the salt of the earth needs special handling, and Straw
Dogs was not up to the challenge.
As a remake of the 1971 classic film Straw Dogs 2011 is a complete disaster. What made the original Straw Dogs so good was the escalation of differences between two cultures, and how growing conflict between the city boy and his wife affected the already tense friction between David and the locals until an outside situation ignited all of the increasing tension into a raging fire. That film is excellent. Straw Dogs 2011 is relatively interesting with good violence in the end, but otherwise is “not excellent”.
Remakes are extremely popular these days as taking the name and storyline of a film that was popular in the past continues to be a better filmmaking investment than taking a chance on an original idea. So many remakes never need to be made unless there is something new to add to the story or the experience that adds some value – and Straw Dogs 2011 has nothing to add. Plus, to top it all off, since the lead character’s name is my brother’s name the whole thing was a little weird. That part wouldn’t be shared by most, but it affected me all the same. Watch the original if you are in the mood for an excellent film, and watch this one if you want to see what Hollywood thinks of rural folks.
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