In 1971, Sam Peckinpah’s “Straw Dogs” was about as controversial as a movie could be, a violent look at an ineffectual man (Dustin Hoffman) pushed to a savage reaction when threatened.
Watching the new remake of a very disturbing picture, the big question is why writer-director Rod Lurie sought to revisit the material. Lurie’s interested in politics (he did “The Contender”), and in the early going at least, “Straw Dogs” explores some of the hostility alive in our fractured red state vs. blue state country.
The action takes place in small-town Mississippi, where Hollywood screenwriter David Sumner (James Marsden) is moving with his wife, Amy (Kate Bosworth), who grew up in the place.
David drives a $100,000 Jaguar and wears shoes without any laces, setting up tension between this fancy-boy fella from Hollyweird and the gun-toting real Americans who fly the Confederate flag.
Oh, and Amy used to date studly local giant Charlie (Alexander Skarsgard, from “True Blood”), who is now repairing the Sumners’ barn roof and leering at his ex with his drooling buddies.
The path is set for conflict-averse David to confront the darker impulses in himself, as in the original 1971 film. But where Peckinpah forced the viewer to confront something primal and unresolved, the remake mostly just revs us up for a bloody climax.
And whatever Lurie means by drawing the differences between the surly locals and the diffident outsider, he botches it with his clumsy staging of the ugliest scenes, including an appallingly directed attack on Amy.
Kate Bosworth has the right brittle quality for Amy, but James Marsden isn’t as neat a fit. Marsden, who co-starred with Bosworth in “Superman Returns,” is capable, but he looks too athletic and handsome for the role.
Dustin Hoffman, on the other hand, didn’t have to convince us he could be easily pushed around.
The brutal finale leaves scorched earth behind, as well as a bad aftertaste. A movie that trades in violence can also have something on its mind, but in this case, the overall effect is just unpleasant.
“Straw Dogs” (1 star)
An unpleasant remake of the 1971 film about a conflict-averse man (James Marsden) who moves with his wife (Kate Bosworth) to a small town where the locals take a violent attitude. Director Rod Lurie reaches for political commentary, but as the action gears up for a violent finale the movie just gets uglier and uglier.
Rating: R, for violence, language, subject matter.
Showing: Alderwood, Cinebarre, Everett Stadium, Galaxy Monroe, Marsyville, Metro, Oak Tree, Pacific Place, Woodinville, Cascade Mall.
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