mike-grotton

Let's set aside the fact that this 'adaptation' fails to capture any of the tone and atmosphere of the source material, the fact is it fails in the storyline department in the most fundamental ways possible. Starting, and perhaps most importantly, with the characters. The characters are completely unlikable and find themselves entrenched in plot threads that have you rooting for the monsters. There is an attempt at elevated world building by following the characters in two timeliness, but it fails miserably.

I was reluctant to watch based on some of the negative reviews but I found 'Head Count' to be perfectly watchable. It's not challenging cinema or anything but it has a good enough hook to keep you going to the end. You won't be blown away but it's an entertaining once-and-done.

I feel sorry for the filmmakers here. The original is such a classic, and so we'll acted; it achieves very singular levels of story, atmosphere, and performance. The remake was always doomed to pale in comparison. That said, I was willing to give it a shot and judge it on its own merits. What I found was a story devoid of character enriching beats and a tired visual style that was at its best when it tried, however infrequently, to approximate the original. I never once felt drawn in to the muddied predicament of the characters and in fact became increasingly annoyed with the plots tendency to drift away from the core mystery in favor of tired paranoia driven conspiracy tropes where no one is who you thought they were and the protagonist's family, friends, and lovers are out to get them. The denounment is pure laziness. I had to rewatch the original the next day to cleanse my pallet.