Rod Lurie made a name for himself when he burst on to the scene in 2000, with the political thriller The Contender and then followed that up a year later with the very under rated The Last Castle. Lurie then did some TV work, before returning to the big screen in 2008 with Resurrecting the Champ, followed by Nothing But the Truth. Unfortunately, Lurie's most recent directorial effort, a remake of the 1971 film Straw Dogs starring Dustin Hoffman and Susan George, is a far cry from the well written, well directed earlier four films.
Lurie's Straw Dogs stars James Marsden as screenplay writer David Sumner and Kate Bosworth as his wife, Amy Sumner. Marsden's David is a borderline geek lacking what it takes to be a man, which Marsden plays convincingly well. Marsden has never struck me as someone tough or able to defend himself. I hated him as Cyclops in the X-Men films, and found that he was better suited to movies like Enchanted and 27 Dresses. Bosworth's Amy, however, comes across as a woman better suited to put up a fight if need be. Bosworth's performance is one of the better parts of the movie. Alexander Skarsgård, best known as playing Eric Northman in the HBO hit series True Blood, plays Charlie Venner. Charlie is Amy's ex-boyfriend and leader of the group of rednecks that cause trouble for the Sumners. I like Skarsgård on True Blood and think that with quality writing he is capable of giving a solid performance. In Straw Dogs, Skarsgård just wastes away due to the character being seriously under developed. James Woods plays the drunken, over protective Tom Heddon, ex-head coach of the local football. Woods is the best thing about the film and his performance stands out as such.
As a thriller, Straw Dogs was terribly disappointing and could have been a lot better, had it had a better script and director; Lurie also wrote the screenplay. The pacing of the film left much to be desired, as often times it felt as if the story was dragging. The characters needed better development and the violence should have been more brutal; although the finale does include a pretty violent death. The underlining message of the film seemed to be that people got what they deserved; regardless of whether they were asking for it or not. That must mean that viewers deserved to waste their time and money, because that's exactly how I felt after watching this.
Grade: D+ visit our site at www.twodudereview.com
Lurie's Straw Dogs stars James Marsden as screenplay writer David Sumner and Kate Bosworth as his wife, Amy Sumner. Marsden's David is a borderline geek lacking what it takes to be a man, which Marsden plays convincingly well. Marsden has never struck me as someone tough or able to defend himself. I hated him as Cyclops in the X-Men films, and found that he was better suited to movies like Enchanted and 27 Dresses. Bosworth's Amy, however, comes across as a woman better suited to put up a fight if need be. Bosworth's performance is one of the better parts of the movie. Alexander Skarsgård, best known as playing Eric Northman in the HBO hit series True Blood, plays Charlie Venner. Charlie is Amy's ex-boyfriend and leader of the group of rednecks that cause trouble for the Sumners. I like Skarsgård on True Blood and think that with quality writing he is capable of giving a solid performance. In Straw Dogs, Skarsgård just wastes away due to the character being seriously under developed. James Woods plays the drunken, over protective Tom Heddon, ex-head coach of the local football. Woods is the best thing about the film and his performance stands out as such.
As a thriller, Straw Dogs was terribly disappointing and could have been a lot better, had it had a better script and director; Lurie also wrote the screenplay. The pacing of the film left much to be desired, as often times it felt as if the story was dragging. The characters needed better development and the violence should have been more brutal; although the finale does include a pretty violent death. The underlining message of the film seemed to be that people got what they deserved; regardless of whether they were asking for it or not. That must mean that viewers deserved to waste their time and money, because that's exactly how I felt after watching this.
Grade: D+ visit our site at www.twodudereview.com