Straw Dogs (2011)

I avoided this one for a while because I was annoyed at the remake trend. I think the 1971 film with Dustin Hoffman is one of his best. A pretty tense flick about locals hassling a timid guy and his hot wife on a retreat. 40 years later, they decided to remake it. It is based on a novel afterall, so it's more like a new adaptation rather than being a remake, right?

The newer version follows the same beats of the original. Dead cats, retards, home invasion, etc. It changes the setting from some English town to somewhere in the US south, but the rest is the same. This isn't really a problem though, because the cast is pretty good.

James Marsden plays our beta male writer, and his wife is Kate Bosworth. The local hillbillies eyeball her a lot, she teases them to get back at her timid husband, and things escalate.

Alexander Skarsgard is the main one of that group, and he's a cool mofo. You know he's up to something, but every time they confront him about it, he's all apologetic and "sincere". And then you have James Woods as a crazy drunk! And a small appearance by Walton Goggins? This movie is shaping up pretty nicely...


What's a bit hard to swallow is James Marsden being a wimpy chump. We all know he played Cyclops, and Cyclops banged Famke Jansen's Jean Grey. That means he's an alpha male all the way. I was watching Goldeneye the other day, and she plays the sex-crazed villain who tries to crush Bond with her legs all the time. I would let her sex/murder me anytime.

Fortunately near the end, ol' Cyclops remembers that he's alpha and starts kicking some ass. Overall pretty decent.

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