Lets get one thing straight. Most reviewers have panned this because they say it loses what Hitchcock created. Fair enough, if the film had been trying to emulate Hitchcock. It isn't.
After Chris Reeves' accident, there was only ever going to be one role he could ever play again and this was it. How many other movies have wheelchair bound heroes? So for Chris to return to the profession which he loved, this had to be the one. Now I know many people have a love affair with Hitch, but I must admit I never found Rear Window to be a classic like some of his others, the idea came from creating a movie on a single set. The camera never moves out of Jimmy Stewarts room, until he falls out of the window.
While this was an interesting excercise and experiment, I find that not even the great Jimmy Stewart can keep his energy up throughout the film. It is as static as the camera.
The modern version, although a technical remake with the same basic plot line, is not attempting to do the same thing. First of all it is a showcase for Christopher Reeves. This may sound like a vanity project but it is not. Reeves as Superman was a cult hero but never about to win an Oscar. This is a performance that if you accept it, because it is hard viewing watching him knowing that he is portraying his everyday life, will haunt you. Having lost the use of his body, Reeves shows everything through his face. The part where his air supply is disconnected was done for real, can you imagine performing while your entire life depends on the people around you. Reeves leaves you with no apology for his condition, asking for no sympathy but a simple laying bare of the human soul, his, trapped in a useless body. A sterling feat in a thriller.This is not just about chris or people in his condition, but about all paraplegics and quadriplegics trapped in a shell of a body. By the end, you will know what it is like to live like that, and perhaps you might change your attitude or appreciate what you have, just a little bit more.
Other than that, the rest of the cast are decent and the direction is competent, the style is of a TV movie, but its the best TV movie you will see. It's not Hitchcock, it doesn't try to be and it shouldn't be compared to the original. But from Christopher Reeve, who sadly (or perhaps for him, a release), passed away not so long ago, it is the greatest performance of his life and a wonderful epitaph.
After Chris Reeves' accident, there was only ever going to be one role he could ever play again and this was it. How many other movies have wheelchair bound heroes? So for Chris to return to the profession which he loved, this had to be the one. Now I know many people have a love affair with Hitch, but I must admit I never found Rear Window to be a classic like some of his others, the idea came from creating a movie on a single set. The camera never moves out of Jimmy Stewarts room, until he falls out of the window.
While this was an interesting excercise and experiment, I find that not even the great Jimmy Stewart can keep his energy up throughout the film. It is as static as the camera.
The modern version, although a technical remake with the same basic plot line, is not attempting to do the same thing. First of all it is a showcase for Christopher Reeves. This may sound like a vanity project but it is not. Reeves as Superman was a cult hero but never about to win an Oscar. This is a performance that if you accept it, because it is hard viewing watching him knowing that he is portraying his everyday life, will haunt you. Having lost the use of his body, Reeves shows everything through his face. The part where his air supply is disconnected was done for real, can you imagine performing while your entire life depends on the people around you. Reeves leaves you with no apology for his condition, asking for no sympathy but a simple laying bare of the human soul, his, trapped in a useless body. A sterling feat in a thriller.This is not just about chris or people in his condition, but about all paraplegics and quadriplegics trapped in a shell of a body. By the end, you will know what it is like to live like that, and perhaps you might change your attitude or appreciate what you have, just a little bit more.
Other than that, the rest of the cast are decent and the direction is competent, the style is of a TV movie, but its the best TV movie you will see. It's not Hitchcock, it doesn't try to be and it shouldn't be compared to the original. But from Christopher Reeve, who sadly (or perhaps for him, a release), passed away not so long ago, it is the greatest performance of his life and a wonderful epitaph.