Let Me In

Let Me In

One of my least favorite trends in American movies is the remake of a recent foreign movie.  Every now and then a remake of a foreign movie is no big deal.  Especially if the movie is a short (12 Monkeys) or nobody really saw the original (Quarantine).  But when the original is a wonderfully captivating and original film that played in theaters all across America, I kind of take exception.
Let the Right One In is an ethereal, striking magical film that extended the vampire myth in ways that True Blood and Twilight could only hope to achieve.  Let Me In, though a capable remake, lacks any of the magic and wonder that sort of shimmered through the original.  It is rough and gritty and goes to great lengths to contrast the bullying the little boy goes through with the violence the girl is forced to perpetrate to stay alive.  It feels a little heavy handed.  It could have been done in a much more subtle way but I already knew that because there already is a perfect version of this story.  The CGI vampire murder scenes looked terrible, almost like a video game.  That bad.  The other aspect of Let Me In that really fell flat was the music.  It was a constant annoying presence attempting to sway the audience's feeling.  And, just wondering, does it really snow that much in Los Alamos, New Mexico?
That being said, the performances by the leads in Let Me In were pretty stunning.  Still not as good as the original actors but they hold their own nevertheless, especially in their scenes together.  Richard Jenkins was suitably creepy, and probably the best part of the movie, as the weird old man aiding our little vampire.  So while it doesn't really hold a candle to the original I still think it was a pretty decent movie.  Sean has never seen Let the Right One In and he enjoyed it more than me so I think if you haven't seen the original you'd probably like Let Me In.