Remakes - who needs them?
I have to agree with dangermousie about remakes - if it's not broken, no use fixing it. They may be the children of Satan too for all I know, ha.
Remakes hardly ever come off even half as good as the originals. And when the original is something as superb as Life on Mars or Mawang it's almost painful even to think someone wanting to mess with the concept. And I gather there's a Korean remake of Band of Brothers in the works! They are even using the iconic line-up pic. Argh, can't they leave well alone!? I've been trying to come up with good remakes and the only one that directly comes to mind is Magnificient Seven. But then Kurosawa did quite heavily borrow from American westerns so Seven Samurai and Mag 7 are sort of closely related.
So, in the name of research I suffered through the 1st episode of Maou (Japanese remake of Korean drama Mawang/The Devil) and the pilot of the US version of BBC's Life on Mars. My, was I not impressed by either. I tried to be as objective as I could but these versions are just so lacking in a lot of departments. The main thing being - total, utter lack of the intensity and magic of the originals. There's no 'draw' in either of them. None. And both give far too much away already. Where's the mystery, the anticipation, then tension, the guessing?!! The beginning of Life on Mars - can anyone forget the spinning wheels of the police car and the sudden screech to a halt a the suspects house? In the US version they start with a boring gathering at the station. So utterly lame. Maou is a rush job as they are cramming 20 episodes worth of story into 11. Which means there is no real character or story development.
Life on Mars - US style: The actors, well they are not all that bad. But let's face it Jason O'Mara just can't compare with John Simm. He's one of the 'BoB alumni' so I'll always have a soft spot for him and he's good when given the right part but Sam Tyler just ain't it. Colm Meaney's Gene Hunt is so lame, I mean Phil is Gene Hunt, he made the part his own in such a way that they should have just changed the name entirely and be done with it. Annie.... she's totally different, which is actually good. I missed Chris and Ray something fearce. I've read that they canned the pilot, moved the show to New York and are considering cast and scripting changes. Good for them.
All I can say about Maou's main twosome is that they suck. Toma is far too young and his angsty cop just comes off as a pretty boy trying to look angsty. There's no real sense of suffering, of a life lived in regret and atonement, of tortured soul, no humility and goodness. Uhm Tae Woong is so very, very good and beleavable as the cop in Mawang that I doubt anyone could surpass that. Well, John Simm - maybe, ha. Ohono as the laywer is the right age I guess but lacks the intensity and feeling of the original. There's no hidden depths in this guy. Nor can I feel the pain and anger at all. Joo Ji Hoon is so much better! He's impressive without even trying. He's also tall which is another aspect I think is part of the package. There's the sort of omnious stillness in JJH's Seung Ha that gives me shivers just thinking about the character. And it was there from the beginning. UTW and JJH have this incredible chemistry together as Oh Soo and Seung Ha that Toma and Ohono totally lack. It's just not there. Sorry. With that missing Maou is missing a very important ingredient indeed.
Would I have watched either of these if I'd not seen the originals? I might have given them a chance but I doubt I'd gone past 1st episode. Not interesting enough, just 2 run of the mill cop shows and I've seen gzillion of those, lot of them much better too.
Remakes hardly ever come off even half as good as the originals. And when the original is something as superb as Life on Mars or Mawang it's almost painful even to think someone wanting to mess with the concept. And I gather there's a Korean remake of Band of Brothers in the works! They are even using the iconic line-up pic. Argh, can't they leave well alone!? I've been trying to come up with good remakes and the only one that directly comes to mind is Magnificient Seven. But then Kurosawa did quite heavily borrow from American westerns so Seven Samurai and Mag 7 are sort of closely related.
So, in the name of research I suffered through the 1st episode of Maou (Japanese remake of Korean drama Mawang/The Devil) and the pilot of the US version of BBC's Life on Mars. My, was I not impressed by either. I tried to be as objective as I could but these versions are just so lacking in a lot of departments. The main thing being - total, utter lack of the intensity and magic of the originals. There's no 'draw' in either of them. None. And both give far too much away already. Where's the mystery, the anticipation, then tension, the guessing?!! The beginning of Life on Mars - can anyone forget the spinning wheels of the police car and the sudden screech to a halt a the suspects house? In the US version they start with a boring gathering at the station. So utterly lame. Maou is a rush job as they are cramming 20 episodes worth of story into 11. Which means there is no real character or story development.
Life on Mars - US style: The actors, well they are not all that bad. But let's face it Jason O'Mara just can't compare with John Simm. He's one of the 'BoB alumni' so I'll always have a soft spot for him and he's good when given the right part but Sam Tyler just ain't it. Colm Meaney's Gene Hunt is so lame, I mean Phil is Gene Hunt, he made the part his own in such a way that they should have just changed the name entirely and be done with it. Annie.... she's totally different, which is actually good. I missed Chris and Ray something fearce. I've read that they canned the pilot, moved the show to New York and are considering cast and scripting changes. Good for them.
All I can say about Maou's main twosome is that they suck. Toma is far too young and his angsty cop just comes off as a pretty boy trying to look angsty. There's no real sense of suffering, of a life lived in regret and atonement, of tortured soul, no humility and goodness. Uhm Tae Woong is so very, very good and beleavable as the cop in Mawang that I doubt anyone could surpass that. Well, John Simm - maybe, ha. Ohono as the laywer is the right age I guess but lacks the intensity and feeling of the original. There's no hidden depths in this guy. Nor can I feel the pain and anger at all. Joo Ji Hoon is so much better! He's impressive without even trying. He's also tall which is another aspect I think is part of the package. There's the sort of omnious stillness in JJH's Seung Ha that gives me shivers just thinking about the character. And it was there from the beginning. UTW and JJH have this incredible chemistry together as Oh Soo and Seung Ha that Toma and Ohono totally lack. It's just not there. Sorry. With that missing Maou is missing a very important ingredient indeed.
Would I have watched either of these if I'd not seen the originals? I might have given them a chance but I doubt I'd gone past 1st episode. Not interesting enough, just 2 run of the mill cop shows and I've seen gzillion of those, lot of them much better too.