Post by jeffan on Jun 24, 2009 4:12:07 GMT -5
Insomnia (2002), plus the death of the police drama film.
Insomnia is a remake of the 1997 Norwegian crime movie Insomnia. Both films are fairly similar, but this article will focus on the 2002 iteration (since it's the one I watched most recently. Just being real). The "Americanized remake" has become a cynical joke in film geek and film snob circles, the obvious and unavoidable destiny of their favorite low budget foreign films. And no one bats an eye these days when discussion of a remake of Let the Right One In hits the intertubes. It's expected now. And besides, who wants to read subtitles anyway? Not the American public, that's for sure. And if there are subtitles, they better be all funkified and fly around the screen and do things besides translate what's being said...
But there is a problem with these type of movies, crime and cop films. And that problem is Dick Wolf (dun dun). Okay, not specifically Dick Wolf, but he is the mastermind behind Law & Order, and its many iterations which seem to be on television about 20 hours a day. And if Law & Order isn't your bag, there's The Wire, CSI, CSI: Miami, CSI: Las Vegas, NCIS, LA Law, Miami Vice, Homicide: Life on the Street, JAG...basically the list goes on and on, jammed with different shows featuring the many twists and turns of law and/or order. And what can movies do that these numerous shows can't? The longer running times allow for stronger characterization, but the stories can't go anywhere that these shows haven't already gone. A big problem is the turnaround time: TV shows can be produced and aired in as little as a week, while movies take around a year to make on average, and these shows have a leg up on culling inspiration from real events. Just look at the recent Law & Order: Sex Crimes episode that featured a Casey Anthony like situation (and guest starring Hillary Duff in the accused Murder Mommy role). The show didn't even wait for the trial, they just made up their own wacky story inspired from those event.s But they've effectively beat the film industry to the punch by doing so...
Crime movies are only left with using the criminal acts as the macguffin for the telling a story about people. Well, that's the idea anyway. Michael Mann's Heat is a perfect example of the crime film using the criminal activity and subsequent investigation as a way to tell a story about a large and varied group of characters. And sometimes you get Insomnias, movies with decent enough stories and great enough characters that it makes it worth while to check out. But when a person can tune their television to the USA Network and see pretty good hour long episodes of intense criminal investigations that actually include interesting characters that grow throughout the season, what's left to be done? For pete's sake, they even got Jeff Goldblum now!
Is the cop drama dead? Was Zodiac that final nail in the coffin, the "this is as good as it gets" moment for this genre of film? Will Michael Mann bring back the heat with this summer's Public Enemies? Will a serious-minded reimagining of the Police Academy series be the great rejuvenater? Only time will tell.
Christopher Crespo
Orlando Film Examiner
June 23, 2009.
Full article
www.examiner.com/x-7322-Orlando-Film-Examiner~y2009m6d23-Insomnia-2002-plus-the-death-of-police-dramas-in-film
Insomnia is a remake of the 1997 Norwegian crime movie Insomnia. Both films are fairly similar, but this article will focus on the 2002 iteration (since it's the one I watched most recently. Just being real). The "Americanized remake" has become a cynical joke in film geek and film snob circles, the obvious and unavoidable destiny of their favorite low budget foreign films. And no one bats an eye these days when discussion of a remake of Let the Right One In hits the intertubes. It's expected now. And besides, who wants to read subtitles anyway? Not the American public, that's for sure. And if there are subtitles, they better be all funkified and fly around the screen and do things besides translate what's being said...
But there is a problem with these type of movies, crime and cop films. And that problem is Dick Wolf (dun dun). Okay, not specifically Dick Wolf, but he is the mastermind behind Law & Order, and its many iterations which seem to be on television about 20 hours a day. And if Law & Order isn't your bag, there's The Wire, CSI, CSI: Miami, CSI: Las Vegas, NCIS, LA Law, Miami Vice, Homicide: Life on the Street, JAG...basically the list goes on and on, jammed with different shows featuring the many twists and turns of law and/or order. And what can movies do that these numerous shows can't? The longer running times allow for stronger characterization, but the stories can't go anywhere that these shows haven't already gone. A big problem is the turnaround time: TV shows can be produced and aired in as little as a week, while movies take around a year to make on average, and these shows have a leg up on culling inspiration from real events. Just look at the recent Law & Order: Sex Crimes episode that featured a Casey Anthony like situation (and guest starring Hillary Duff in the accused Murder Mommy role). The show didn't even wait for the trial, they just made up their own wacky story inspired from those event.s But they've effectively beat the film industry to the punch by doing so...
Crime movies are only left with using the criminal acts as the macguffin for the telling a story about people. Well, that's the idea anyway. Michael Mann's Heat is a perfect example of the crime film using the criminal activity and subsequent investigation as a way to tell a story about a large and varied group of characters. And sometimes you get Insomnias, movies with decent enough stories and great enough characters that it makes it worth while to check out. But when a person can tune their television to the USA Network and see pretty good hour long episodes of intense criminal investigations that actually include interesting characters that grow throughout the season, what's left to be done? For pete's sake, they even got Jeff Goldblum now!
Is the cop drama dead? Was Zodiac that final nail in the coffin, the "this is as good as it gets" moment for this genre of film? Will Michael Mann bring back the heat with this summer's Public Enemies? Will a serious-minded reimagining of the Police Academy series be the great rejuvenater? Only time will tell.
Christopher Crespo
Orlando Film Examiner
June 23, 2009.
Full article
www.examiner.com/x-7322-Orlando-Film-Examiner~y2009m6d23-Insomnia-2002-plus-the-death-of-police-dramas-in-film