I know… this is not my normal movie review. But there are exceptions to every rule. Isn’t that what this movie is all about. And since I am of the male persuasion I’m sure you are expecting a bad review. Well that is not completely true. 2011 was most definitely the year of remakes, what with films like “The Thing”, “Rise of the Planet of the Apes”, “Star Trek”, and that is just to name a few. Now, what else do these films have in common with the remake of “Footloose”? Nothing, that’s what. These three films did what a remake is suppose to do, improve on the original. Why else remake them, right? Now don’t get me wrong here. “Footloose (2011)” as a stand alone film is worth your time to watch. The story is a timeless one, and the film is entertaining.
However… it is lacking in comparison to the original film. What do I mean by lacking? Well where do I start? Oh, I know… Lets start with talent; specifically the main character, Ren McCormack, originally portrayed by Kevin Beacon. The new version has Kenny Wormald as Ren. Now Kenny does have some good moves, and is a decent actor. But… when it came to the two critical scenes of the film, the aggression dance in the warehouse and the stand off with the town council, where he had to be on top of his game, Kenny, cut the cheese instead of the mustard. His performance was weak at best, and unbelievable. There was no emotion in his eyes or body language, and the words came out of his mouth as dry as the Sahara. The next down-fall in the cast was, Ziah Colon as Rusty, originally played by Sarah Jessica Parker. Her performance as Ariel’s best friend was dry and lifeless. Now on a positive side, Julianne Hough did no harm in her role as Ariel Moore, the rebellious preacher’s daughter, nor did she bring anything extra special to the role either. Hough’s performance was good and solid, just not spectacular.
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| Julianne Hough ( Ariel Moore) |
Now lets take a look at a couple actors that did bring something to the film. First I’ll go with Dennis Quaid taking on John Lithgow’s role of Rev. Shaw Moore. Although the part was changed very little, Quaid made the role his own and refining the character just enough to upgrade the Rev. to Rev 2.0, but then again… it is Dennis Quaid after all. Now on to everyone’s favorite farm-boy Willard, now played by Miles Teller. As for Teller’s acting ability, I would have to say he did his mentor, Christopher Penn, justice. But, he did out perform Penn by a mile in the dance category.
There was two main changes that altered the tone of the film. One of them being that Ren’s mother had died from Leukemia, the reason that he moves to town, although it is now from Boston instead of Chicago (why I have no idea). This gave Ren even more reason to be angry and strong willed, since he was the only one that to care of her until her death. The second is the character change of Ren’s uncle, Wes Warnicker, played by Ray McKinnon. No longer is he the bible-thumping, overly trained puppy following Rev. Moore’s every step as if he were God himself. Uncle Wes is now Ren’s greatest ally, ready to stand and defend his nephew against anyone in town. This to me was a great switch to the film. Another change I liked was the replacement of the game of tractor chicken with a bus race on a figure eight dirt track, it was twice the thrills and ends with a bang.
So over all, as a remake I give “Footloose (2011)” 2 stars… However as a stand alone film I can bump it up to 3 ½ stars. This is a good film for the new generation and those that have not seen the original, but don’t let them revel in this film alone. After they have watched it, pull out the original and have them watch it next. Lets see what they think shall we.
When it comes to the Darkest Hour film I am going to keep it short and sweet. The film met it problems even before it’s completion, the 2010 wildfires in Russia held the production up, as well as filming conflicts, but the film was finished and hit the big screen by Dec. 25 2011 in the US. The box office wasn’t what it should have been, and I really don’t understand why. The film has plenty of action and will keep viewers on the edge of their seats. The storyline is strong, and the cast was exceptionable. And the special effects were spectacular to say the least. The premise of the movie may be that of so many other science fiction flicks, alien invasion, but the movie itself is original. I have to give Darkest Hour 4 ½ stars and put it on my must see DVD list.
