(2010) ****
The wife and I caught this on date night last Friday. First we shared a big old chicken nachos platter, then some side salads and a couple beers. All with free babysitting. So yeah, it was a good night anyway, and then we walked around the corner from the bar to see this new vampire romance thriller thingy.
I was aware that this had been a cult fave foreign film recently, and I knew it had been well received on this blog, so I was hoping that this seemingly pointless American remake wouldn't be offensively vanilla. No need to worry--this is a fun, scary, touching, and well crafted horror flick. That said, I'm holding back a half star to allow room for me to like the original even better.
From a few reviews I've scanned, it seems like this one sticks really closely to the original, plotwise--it's about an adolescent loner kid who falls for his new neighbor, a 12 year girl who turns out to be a vampire with mad Rubik's cube skills. The two kid actors really carry the movie, and they're both quite good. I'd just seen the boy, Kodi Smit McGee, in The Road. He was good in that, but the role demanded less. Here, his loneliness and social discomfort and desire for companionship are key to the movie's success, and he's convincing. The little girl is just as good--sort of androgynous, a bit vacant and world-weery, and obviously scared for her future. She also gets mean and bloodthirsty like nobodies fucking business.
My one real complaint about this flick was somewhat oddly clumsy CGI effects. If Jackson can do ringwraiths and Golem almost a decade ago, you'd think a single small vampire in a dark courtyard could be a snap. But in two crucial shots, the effect ends up looking pretty cartoonish. Ah, humbug. That's 2 weak shots in an overall very pretty movie.
