When I first heard that Cloverfield director Matt Reeves was going to be re-
So lets get something out of the way first, I loathed Cloverfield. I mean, I am in no way victim to motion sickness, but for all the pre-release hype and a cushy connection to Lost producer J.J. Abrams, you think that the film would have had a much stronger sense of mystique to it, but in reality it was "popcorn" at best, if you could hold the popcorn down with all the shakey-cam. It also did not help my prejudice that he wrote Under Siege 2:Dark Territory.
So to the review.
Let Me In is the story surrounding the love between Owen (Kodi Smit-McPhee), a bullied and isolated 12 year-8 month-and 23 days old adolescent, and Abby (Chloë Moretz), a reclusive, and somewhat stoic 12 years-giveortakeafewdays old vampire. Now, for all who have not seen the original, Owen is a class-A loner, he lives a life of solitude both in and out of school. When surrounded by class-mates, he keeps to himself, and when at home, he acts out his innermost rage by fantasizing about torturing (and possibly killing) Jimmy, a boy that constantly makes Owen the target of his malice. His family life contributes to the isolation, since his mother, as loving as she may be, carries no presence with him. In the evening, Owen spends his time alone in the middle of his apartment complex, acting out his fantasies of revenge and letting his mind wander, until one night Abby moves in next door with her "father" (Richard Jenkins). The two meet, and Owen slowly becomes smitten over her, even though she states that they can never be friends. Over the course of the film, it is the sense of loneliness that draws them closer, no matter what bloody or visceral actions Abby takes to survive.
The original carried many thematic elements, which Reeves has been very careful not to ignore for the sake of widening his audience. The sense of isolation for both characters almost feels like watching a flower blossom for loss of better words. For instance, in the beginning of the film, Owen is shown in many claustrophobic environments, his room, the class-room filled with students, the small jungle-gym outside of his apartment feels closed off due to the fact it is filmed to have almost a box-shaped layout, and many shots in the opening are through Own's perspective. Take notice if you watch, the complex only has one gate which is tucked away in a back corner, and it is the only entrance/exit anyone living in the complex ever seems to use (except for Abby of course). And Abby, besides a couple scenes, for the first 40 or so minutes she is hardly seen, when she is, its not even in full lighting. As their relationship develops, the more the two experience new things, the settings involving the two characters starts to widen. Together, the two may be children in nature (a part of life that Abby has forgotten), but is this unity that helps Owen become a stronger individual both inside and out.
That is what gives this film good coming-of-age qualities. It is those intimate relationships (sexual or non-sexual) that we have when we are young that start constructing us into young adults. What removes the basis of that theme from submerging into pre-teen campiness is the fact that the film is evenly paced with brutal scenes of violence.
Other themes explored are definitely youth in violence, presented in the good-natured, yet disturbed Owen, the confident bully Jimmy, and the quiet, yet feral Abby. Youth in violence opens the gate for mental instability, especially for the lead, but that is where this film handles it so delicately. We are presented with early scenes of Owen diffusing his violent fantasies, but he seems to calm down, even grow happy after meeting Abby, which makes one think, "is this child really insane, or is a social outcast that needs someone involved in him". His mother is never really around, and if she is, she is heavily asleep in an inebriated state. Her face is never fully shown, and if it does appear in-frame, the director has taken the precaution of soft-bluring it to focus on something else in the scene. As for his father, it is one phone call that the two share (in which Smit-McPhee really goes full force with his acting chops) portrays him as caring, yet dismissive. This further shows that this child pretty much has a withdrawn family life.
There is one small addition that was not in the original which I will elaborate on. Every time Owen eats dinner with his mother, she says grace at the table. The grace is a plot device used later for the mother, and the use of saying grace strikes irony in the fact that there is not only a vampire living next door, but her son is involved with it. Personally, I have my own beliefs that in the concept of saying grace at the dinner table carries a deeper meaning, especially given the time period the film takes place in, but I will elaborate at a later time.
Let The Right One In had a very solid script, and the remake is no different. Reeves, who tasked himself with adapting the script successfully did so, but by dipping a little Americana in it (i.e. the Now and Later jingle) he was able to make the story much more accessible to U.S. audiences. The script would not be nearly as effective if it were not for the capable cast carrying the story along.
The two leads' chemistry works effectively to the point where many people in the audience, including my very non-film watching fiancee effectively said "Awwwww" during sequences of adolescent romance between the two. Abby's "father"/"protector" appropriately portrays signs of a child-like mentality, hinting at his origins with the girl. Even the bully Jimmy and his cohorts incite the proper amount of loathing that any cinematic antagonist should carry to be considered effective. Elias Koteas holds a roll as the police detective investigating the murders that have occurred since Abby has come to town, and as shown in the film A Haunting in Connecticut, he can carry his weight as a genre actor.
I was thoroughly impressed with the Greig Fraser's cinematography. Shooting on location in New Mexico, it is hard to imagine that a southern U.S. state holds such snowy winters. He is able to capture angles that supplement the themes of the film throughout, such as an shot in a tunnel in the beginning. The symmetry of said tunnel looks to almost egg-shell Abby in as she waits to draw in her meal (in the form of a jogger). Isolationism and claustrophobia early on are fully achieved in tone using this shot alone.
Now, most U.S. remakes of foreign horror usually are more visually graphic to an almost exploitative state. Let Me In in truth is more graphic that its original, but not in terms of gore, but in terms of visual emphasis. For instance, there are little tweaks to the film that improve upon the original, such as Abby when she transitions from a girl into a vampire, and the finale in the swimming pool at the school, which has been cleaned up a bit to give greater clarity as to what is happening above the water. There is a bit more of effects work put into this film primarily with the way Abby moved when she stalks and kills her prey, and I personally believe it is an improvement over the semi-emo vampire that Lina Leandersson portrayed in the original. Many fan-boys of the original may say that destroys the fragility of her character, but in my opinion that further adds to that, because Moretz shows pain in having to cope with her condition, rather than accepting and dealing with it. As a side note, I have given much attention to Abby and her vampirism throughout this review, but much of the tension is actually created by the human characters, not her.
Academy Award winning composer Michael Giacchino has scored the film appropriately. Scenes of horror or tension are handled tensely with high violin spikes peaking throughout the pieces, and scenes of compassion are encapsulated with the low drum howl of the cello. The sound design is dynamic as it should be, but only dresses to impresses in the more intense sequences, but oddly enough, most other sequences lack any ambient or natural sound, unless if it has anything to do with the plot direction.
What has made both films stand out the most though is the theme of love, which is not widely explored in the vampire genre as much as lust is. Let Me In is not a great remake because it is a carbon copy of a great film, it is a great remake because it has been improved upon. Reeves has taken much care to handle his version with much respect, and not to dilute it into popcorn camp, while at the same time has translated the story to make it much more accessible to an American audience. There is so much more that I can say about this film, yet it would ruin the film for both new audiences and viewers of the original alike. So, I'll give you both trailers and my final rating.
Verdict: Must-See
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