The Argentinian original version released in 2009 was a richly detailed, beautifully acted thriller. As good as it was it was a surprise winner of the best foreign film Oscar, beating out A Prophet and White Ribbon, but it is a very highly rated movie.
This remake follows the same basic plot, with a few major alterations, and whilst decent enough, in pretty much all instances it is a little bit worse than the original. Chiwetel Ejiofor plays a former FBI agent, Ray Kastan, haunted by an old case, and Nicole Kidman is his old boss. Neither of them are particularly impressive and the attraction between the two does not feel real. Julia Roberts fares better as a character new to this version, a colleague of Ray’s. It is her daughter’s murder that was never satisfactorily solved, and Ray thinks he has a breakthrough on the case.
The film meanders too much, lacking tension and believability. The main action set piece of the original was a brilliantly shot sequence set in a heaving football stadium. Here the attempt to pull off something similar as a baseball game just does not work well at all. Also the scenes leading up to the end reveal lack the feeling of dread that the original film produced.
It’s hard to say how I would feel about this film if I hadn’t seen the Argentinian version, I probably would have been more gripped by the plot, and more willing to overlook its flaws.
Rating: 5.5 out of 10