For me, it has to be “Old Boy” which is originally a Korean movie but the US version sucks so much that it remains incomparable. Another contender is “The Ring” again a Japanese movie (the ending differs between both versions, as the original one refers to the protagonist’s father sacrificing himself but the remake states that the cursed tape is being sent to someone else, passing the omen towards another stranger).
Maybe not the worst, but Nikita is better than Point of No Return.
Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift. Initial D is much better.
The Ring was pretty good. I’ve seen both and I prefer the US version.
The eye
Korean horror. The u.s one is bad like how the old boy remake is bad.
The original was a Pang Brothers film. Like. The audacity to think they could do better.
For me, it gotta be City of Angels, the American remake of Der Himmel über Berlin.
The German version is art house, with the camera and soundscape designed to emulate the angel’s experience, observing humanity. The camera can move anywhere, gliding in and observing people’s most intimate moments. The soundscape is constant whispers of thoughts and wprries the people of Berlin carry with them in their daily lives. Everyone is lonely and isolated from the other despite living in a big city. The world is black and white. And then there is this one angel who, much like the little mermaid, becomes fascinated with humans and their ability to experience passion, see color and feel and taste and smell. He becomes more and more tempted by humanity, to live like them and just like the mermaid, the death nail is when he falls in love with a human and he accepts the mortal life to have a chance to be a part of humanity and to be with the one he loves.
The American version: etherally beautiful man-angel sees hot human-woman and gives up his wings to fuck.
Hot human-woman: 90s Meg Ryan. Say no more. I understand.
Etherally beautiful man-angel: Nicholas fucking Cage.
Bruh 🤣
You know what, I don’t even even think Nick Cage is ugly. He has his charm for sure. But he does not pull off ethereal beauty. And he shouldn’t have to. The German angel was played by Bruno Ganz (same guy who played Hitler in Der Untergang🤌), who isn’t exactly beautiful, but he has a warmth to him that feels comforting and that’s the point of the angels in the German version.
But the American version constantly has other characters point out how otherworldly beautiful the angel is and Nick Cage, bless him, does his best to make the soft pretty boy look that Brad Pitt made in Meet Joe Black, but he just looks like a predator when he tries and it is so fucking funny.
Lord have mercy.
The American version lacks the introspection on past sins of a society that did horrible things and have to live with that guilt. The American version also fails to comment on the theme of the all consuming loneliness we humans are bound to feel because oral communication can only take us so far in terms of making ourselves understood to another. It is inherently lonely to be human.
There are many themes that are pretty cool to dig into in Der Himmel über Berlin. I’ll never watch it again, though, because I hate ASMR-type shit and everybody is ASMR-whispering in that film and it is nails on a chalkboard for me. It was near impossible for me to finish it, but it isn’t a bad film and i like the overall idea even if the sounds of whispering people almost made me gag. Also, Nick Cave and Peter Falck have a few cameos. So there’s that. 👍
The American version has a very, very, VERY awkward Nick Cage and Meg Ryan sex scene. Pick your poison 🤣
There are some very notorious TV show remakes, too
I was just wondering if I should bring up Cowboy Bebop here
I enjoyed Utopia, and would have liked to see what else they had in store.
I think I got halfway through the first season of the British version, but not for anything the show did. I just kind of ran out of steam.
I remember watching Cordon which is a Belgian TV series that aired in 2014 but there’s also an American remake under another name containment, the only thing they have in common are that the character’s names are exactly the same with differences being that their settings take place else where respective of their regions.
Battle Royale. The US remake was called something like the hunger games and wasn’t as good…
old boy was pretty horrifically bad. I didn’t even get past like 45 minuets
The Magnificent Seven is fine.
Seven Samurai, however, blows it out of the water.
Every Kurosawa film blows it’s Western counterpart out of the water
I disagree.
I love both movies, and think that the american version can stand on its own.
Probably an unpopular opinion, but The Departed. They dumbed down Infernal Affairs for western audiences. The shot of the rat at the end wasn’t clever and the entire movie was like an unnecessary terrible Disney remake of an original that didn’t need remaking.
I watched Departed twice, not knowing it was a remake and I enjoyed it quite a bit. But after seeing Inferal Affairs I have to agree the Departed is a bit too “extra”, and the original is way more rewatchable than the remake
Solaris, the new version is decent but it’s a totally different movie and just can’t do the original justice.
Second place for me is girl with the dragon tattoo. The original is just better.
Amazing, came here to basically say the same thing about these two. Thanks kind stranger!
But also: Old Boy. Just don’t touch the American version
“The Upside” is really shitty US-remake of the beautiful film “The Intouchables”
“Les Intouchables” but yes, agreed. Why did they need to do that ?
Netflix Death Note movie if you consider the Japanese Live Action Death Note movies as the original, but technically the anime is the original.
I don’t know if it’s the worst, but Speak No Evil (2022) has to be up there. It’s a bleak Danish-Dutch horror movie about the dangers of being a people-pleaser and ignoring red flags out of politeness. The 2024 American remake turned it into a pretty typical Hollywood horror movie with a happy ending, which completely undermines the whole point of the original.
Force Majeur with fucking Will Ferrell was certainly a choice
