I need to preface this really hardcore style, I am 100 percent biased against this movie, I went in looking for flaws, looking to be disappointed because I love love love the original. It is one of my favorite films of all time(number four actually as I posted recently). I didn't hate this movie.
That doesn't mean I loved this movie, but I didn't hate it. It is a good movie, but it is a remake which inevitability and in this case immediately draws comparison to its original. The additions and subtractions work the same way the movie works. On the surface level this is the same film. Where the two films differ are the themes and I think that makes all the difference. In the original, the film was truly about Innocence. It really was a love developing there was nothing sinister to Eli, she did what she had to.
Now here is where I start spoiling the changes because in order to properly review this film I have to.
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In Let Me In however, Abby has a very real possibility of being evil. This film brings up the idea of evil over and over again. It specifically asks that question at one point. The way Abby treats others in this film is really curious. She is manipulative. She is slowly corrupting young Owen and her male protector is long since been there. In the film the nameless male protector has been changed to being what Owen would be become one day. The original presented the role as more of a fatherly role so the change is pretty jarring. It is also based out of the book which had more graphic bits than the original movie. And Overall Owens arc differs from Oskars because here Owens story arc is that of accepting evil into his life and into his heart. In fact, this is one of those movies where I could really see them creating a sequel explaining what they do next and things like the first time Owen kills for Abby and an extension of all of these themes. That could never happen with the original. The theme of innocence preserved in the original is the heart of Oskars story. For despite everything that goes on around Oskar, he is still a good person and he is still full of innocence. Everything he does rings of innocence. Let Me In on the other hand, takes Owen and has him fight that innocence. The first thing we see him do his a creation of his bully's torments(something he doesn't really continue with later, it just sort of drops off) but he also puts on a creepy mask, then with the mask still on he looks in on his neighbors including watching a pair start to have sex. This voyeurism puts Owen as older than Oskar. Oskar hadn't really gone through puberty yet. So his relationship with Eli was one of love and not of (potentially Sexuality, a trait often associated with the loss of innocence). Owens is constantly about the question of which is happening. It is less of a pure and innocent love and much more morally questionable especially with consideration to the new Abby. Abby is very lonely. She seems to have a cycle, she doesn't want to be alone so she finds a mate, that mate grows old and is going to die soon so she pursues a possible suitor that has presented himself as opposed to just ignoring the suitor. It is implied she doesn't really(possibly can't) love these men and is using them because she herself does not want to kill but needs the blood to live. She is overall a much more villainous character here than that of Eli who truly loves Oskar, and truly feels bad about the things she has to do. She is just as innocent as Oskar. But instead Writer/Director Matt Revees chose to change Abby into this other.
Some of the other changes that have been added for American audiences is that A) set in America, and that visual changes pulls away the sense of cold the original delivered. The bullies here are more viscous and frightening. They create a real sense of dread that really makes it understandable when they all die. The pool scene is similar but the extreme changes make it a lesser version of the original films. And lastly the violence and the blood are all exaggerated here because Americans love blood and gore. There are also some conversational additives clarifying some ambiguous things from the original. For the most part that's what this movie is doing. For better or worse, it is taking a stance on the ambiguous questions, it is answering them for you as opposed to letting you answer them. The American Way.
I can't fault him on his choices, just that he took a film and changed it so that it has a different meaning for a different culture. A good way to be a remake. I really want to watch him do some original work because his camera work and his script are both really solid.
You'll notice I didn't mention the acting. That's because it is as good as the original, and in quite a few spots better. The only parts that weren't better than the original was Eli/Abby. Don't get me wrong, Chloe Moretz is one of the greatest actresses of our generation and without question she is amazing. But there is something about the dichotomy of her two performances as both Girl and Vampire that just doesn't work for me. but that might be partially do to the terrible part of this movie...
Oh goddess the CGI in this movie is badly placed. It just looks wrong and like it is in the wrong movie. And it is really disappointing because if they hadn't included it, I could have honestly said there is nothing bad in this movie. There are things I disagree with but nothing bad. But yeah, the cgi doesn't work and is a total failure.
So how do I rate this movie? If I'm giving it a letter grade it is a A+-. It is on two levels both an A+ and an A- so it gets to be both. I don't recommend this movie as hard as I do Buried, but it's worth your time. More importantly if you haven't seen Let The Right One In, go see it. You owe it to yourself.
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