Straw Dogs (2011)

I expected this movie to be yet another terrible remake and turn it off after 15 minutes. But know know what? This was actually a good remake.

While the movie is very similar to the original, they did make some small changes here and there, mainly in the characters background and their motivation - which might help explain some things that seemed a bit odd in the original (for example, why would a beautiful blonde marry a geek). Others may claim the writer ruined some ideas.

It's hard and unfair to compare the actors' performance to Dustin Hoffman and David Warner in the original, but I have to say that all the cast actually did a decent job. James Woods was excellent as a southern redneck and Kate Bosworth was surprisingly good too. I'm not familiar with any of the other actors, who were all decent in their roles.

The ending had some small changes too - again, made in order for the characters to have a better motivation. Still, I prefer the ending of the original, which I recall was more intense and more "surreal", made to show a man protecting his "castle".

All in all, this remake is much better than many of the recent remakes I've seen (or chose to skip). Was this remake necessary? Probably not.

5/10 Worth watching

Fmovies: For the first time ever, I was completely unbiased to watch a remake! Usually Hollywood always has the god-awful and annoying habit of remaking personal favorite horror/cult movies of mine that are already impeccable and not really suitable for improvement, but regarding "Straw Dogs" I felt a lot less concerned since I never was a die-hard admirer of Sam Peckinpah's original from 1971. Surely I acknowledge its importance and influence for the genre, but still mainly consider it to be a deeply unpleasant movie that all too enthusiastically glorifies senseless violence and somehow spreads the message that every man needs to undergo a couple of rape and violence rituals in order to become a real man. "Straw Dogs" 2011 also isn't just any random remake from an aspiring young director who desperately needed an obvious jumping board to success, but by the intelligent writer/director Rod Lurie. He inserted a couple of relevant changes (like the geographical transfer from redneck Southern England to redneck Southern United States) and efficiently put the emphasis on in-depth character development. There's still a fair portion of harsh violence and misogynic brutality in this version, mind you, but at least it's depicted in a lot less gratuitous and joyous way. The infamous rape sequence, for example, still evokes debates regarding provocation but at least the script doesn't all too obviously endorse the so-called 'rape-myth' that all women secretly desire to be physically dominated. The rest of the plot remains the same as well (also because it's a book adaption, of course) and thus focuses on a successful couple temporarily moving to the girl's hometown in Southern Mississippi. The (re-)integration in this traditional and underdeveloped community leads to embarrassing situations for the husband and humiliating confrontations for the wife, as her former boyfriend Charlie and his gang of tough huntsmen penetrate themselves into their lives. Things come to a bloody climax when David and Amy want to prevent the locals from executing private justice. "Straw Dogs" effectively bathes in grim and unsettling atmosphere and hugely benefices from the performances. James Marsden and Kate Bosworth are excellent, but particularly the local hillbillies are portrayed in a disturbingly realistic matter. Amongst them also the always reliable James Woods as a hellish football coach. Also, respecting the rules of cinema, there's some fuzz about a bear claw rather early in the film, so you just know this particularly gruesome and inventive murder instrument will be back in the finale as well.

PS: lovely soundtrack with, amongst others, the wondrous ballad "Summer Wine" by Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood. I hadn't heard that song in years, but I now instantly added it to my play lists again.

While there are probably people out there who could pull off a remake of the classic Straw Dogs, this isn't the group.

I tried real hard to like this film since I'm a huge fan of Walton Goggins, but this should have been left on the shelf.

The actress playing the wife did a rather good job, though, in a role that is not easy to pull off and achieve a believable balance.

Overall I wouldn't give this more than about 4 or 5 points.

Next time someone tries this I really hope they can give us something worth watching. This is a truly worthwhile script that can be done better, perhaps even better than the original. I'd like to see that.

Straw Dogs fmovies. The screenwriter David Sumner (James Marsden) travels with his wife Amy (Kate Bosworth) in his Jaguar to her homeland Blackwater, in the Mississippi. Amy's father has passed away and David intends to write his screenplay about Stalingrad in the house. David hires the contractor Charlie (Alexander Skarsgård) and his team to repair the roof of the Barn. Amy was the sweetheart of Charlie when she lived there and neither him nor his crew show respect to her.

Charlie invites David to hunt deers with his group and him but they leave David alone in the woods and rape Amy. She does not tell to David what happened but when the drunken coach Tom Heddon (James Woods) calls Charlie and his friends to hunt down the slow Jeremy Niles (Dominic Purcell) that likes his daughter, David decides to protect not only Jeremy, but also Amy and his honor.

"Straw Dogs" is an insulting movie, as a remake of Sam Peckinpah's classic of 1971. The original movie is one of the most disturbing that I have ever seen, with a stylish cinematography, top-notch direction and a scary story. This remake is dull, with stupid situations and non-likable and badly developed characters. My suggestion is, instead of watching this remake, see the 1971 movie again. My vote is three.

Title (Brazil): "Sob o Domínio do Medo" ("Under the Domination of the Fear")

An embarrassing attempted 'remake' of a great piece of film making, by a cast and crew who evidently have no idea what the original was all about.

Peckinpah's original raised questions - you left the theater feeling awkward, self-conscious, asking the same question the lead character was asking himself - 'how do I find my way home now?' This pseudo-remake leaves you wondering, "Is it over yet? Why did I waste money on this? Won't this be show up on DVD soon?"

Because that's all it is, a poorly made routine B movie - part domestic melodrama, part crime shocker, aimed at the DVD market.

Wholly forgettable, with blasé cinematography, second rate photography - utterly forgetful.

See the original - a strange, uncomfortable and difficult but insightful film that holds its own after 4 decades.

After reading the reviews of this film and seeing the original, I wasn't really looking forward to watching this movie but glad I did

I suggest to ignore all previous bad reviews & not to compare with the original 1971 film I thought this was a well made movie, with a good cast. The story line is similar to the original but in my opinion better but just bought in to the 21st century.

Acting was very good, very surprised & quite annoyed at some of the comments

I enjoy watching many movies & have to say this has been one of the better movies I have watched recently.

Watch it with an open mind Enjoy as I did. Very good movie