Straw Dogs is a well-made but flawed remake of the controversial and extremely violent 1971 film by director Sam Peckinpah. The story, about a peaceful man who is forced into a situation where he has to decide whether to fight fire with fire, has been transplanted from England to a fictitious rural town in Mississippi. Otherwise, the remake is reasonably faithful to the original film.
Straw Dogs
Studio: Sony
Year: 2011
Rated: R
Program Length: 110 minutes
Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1 1080p
Languages: English, French 5.1 DTS-HD MA; English (Audio Description Track), Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital
Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Spanish
The Program
Straw Dogs is a well-made but flawed remake of the controversial and extremely violent 1971 film by director Sam Peckinpah. The story, about a peaceful man who is forced into a situation where he has to decide whether to fight fire with fire, has been transplanted from England to a fictitious rural town in Mississippi. Otherwise, the remake is reasonably faithful to the original film.
David Sumner (James Marsden) and his wife Amy (Kate Bosworth) are enroute to her hometown of Blackwater, Mississippi following the death of her father. David is a Hollywood screenwriter and Amy is an actress who has appeared on television. The family property has been damaged in a hurricane. The roof of the barn was blown off, and David and Amy are intent upon having it repaired. David also believes that working in a quiet small town will be beneficial to him as he works to finish his current project, a screenplay about the Battle of Stalingrad.
They arrive in Blackwater in style, with David behind the wheel of his Jaguar convertible. They stop for lunch at Blackie's Grill, the local bar/restaurant/pool hall, where Amy is greeted by locals who knew her when she was a high school cheerleader. At this point the usual assortment of stereotypical rednecks begins to appear. Charlie Venner (Alexander Skarsgard) was a high school football star who dated Amy before she left town and went on to bigger and better things. Now Charlie is a contractor who has put in a bid on repairing the roof of the barn. Coach Heddon (James Woods) used to coach the football team but now is retired and seemingly spends most of his time getting drunk. Coach has issues with Jeremy Niles (Dominic Purcell), a man with obvious mental problems who is obsessed with Coach's 15-year-old daughter, Janice (Willa Holland).
David hires Charlie's crew to repair the barn, and issues arise immediately. The workers seem to be more interested in swigging beer and ogling Amy than working, and they resent David's book-learning and what they perceive to be his air of superiority. David's attempts to ingratiate himself with the locals fall flat. The football season always kicks off with a church service and picnic, which Amy convinces David to attend with her. David, who is not a churchgoer, is put off when he hears the preacher talking to the football team about the unleashing of God's wrath against nonbelievers. When the sermon begins, David unwisely gets up and goes out to sit in his car until the service ends. This leads to a verbal confrontation with Charlie even as it becomes increasingly apparent that Charlie still lusts after Amy. For her part, Amy is repelled by the way that Charlie and his men treat her, and she begins to nag at David because he is reluctant to take any action against them.
As directed by Rod Lurie (The Contender), this remake suffers because of a lack of subtlety, several instances of crucial implausibility, and the telegraphing of key plot twists. When David and Amy arrive at the house where she grew up, the place looks spotless and has electricity but no telephone service. David cannot get a cell phone signal at the house, so he has to go into town to make calls. Are we to believe that Amy's father did not have a telephone? Would it not be an easy matter to have the phone service turned on while they are in Blackwater? Another critical moment, one which occurs near the end of the film, fails to surprise and loses much of its impact because it has been set up in such a heavy-handed and obvious way. There is an important scene involving Jeremy and Janice at the season opener football game which astute viewers will see coming from a mile away. In addition, some of the key characters (such as Jeremy) are not well-developed.
That said, the performances are good, particularly Skarsgard as the smarmy and unnerving Charlie. Kate Bosworth is sexy but not particularly convincing as a native of Mississippi (she explains that she no longer has a southern accent because she now speaks in her television voice). James Woods gives exactly the performance one would expect from him. The film looks terrific, and the climactic scene at the house is well-choreographed and quite exciting. If its flaws can be overlooked, fans of violent actions films will probably find Straw Dogs to be reasonably entertaining. I suspect that viewers who have not seen the 1971 film may be less critical of this remake. Squeamish filmgoers should be aware that the film includes a disturbing scene of sexual assault.
The Video
Sony has once again delivered a high quality Blu-ray presentation. Straw Dogs was filmed on location in Louisiana and some of the images are quite striking, a credit to cinematographer Alik Sakharov. The 2.40:1 image appears to be properly framed. The picture is highly detailed, with strong and solid (but not oversaturated) colors. Blacks are deep and inky, and shadow detail is excellent. The latter feature is important because much of the second half of the film takes place at night. Overall, this Blu-ray has a very pleasing, film-like appearance.
The Audio
The lossless 5.1 DTS-HD MA soundtrack is powerful and excellent. Dialogue is generally clear and understandable. The surround channels are effectively used to for ambient sounds throughout the film, and the subwoofer comes to life during scenes involving gunshots and explosions. The country-tinged musical soundtrack is given a wide and spacious soundstage.
The Supplements
The single Blu-ray disc offers a number of interesting and informative extras.
There is a commentary track by writer-director Lurie. He discusses some of the changes he made to the original film, the casting and the performances of the actors, and provides other insights into the production of the film.
"Courting Controversy: Remaking a Classic" is an 8-minute featurette in which members of the cast and crew discuss the challenges they faced in doing this remake. Speaking of the original, producer Marc Frydman makes the rather remarkable claim that "It's a movie that never really worked in America - one of the reasons is because it was shot in England."
"The Dynamics of Power: The Ensemble" is a 6-minute featurette which gives the principal cast members the opportunity to talk about the friendships which they formed while working together.
"Inside the Siege: The Ultimate Showdown" is a very interesting 7-minute look at how the climactic scene of the film was produced.
"Creating the Sumner House: The Production Design" gives Production Designer Tony Fanning and Art Director John Goldsmith the chance to talk about how the location of the Sumner house was scouted and how the house and barn were built. It has a running time of 4 minutes.
Sony also has included trailers for Colombiana, Attack the Block, Hostel: Part III, Drive, Retreat, and Don't Be Afraid of the Dark.
The Packaging
The single disc comes in a standard Blu-ray keep case.
The Final Analysis
Straw Dogs is a glossy remake of a classic film which will appeal mostly to viewers who have never seen the original. It is loud, violent, and has high production values, but is hampered by lapses in logic and a near-total absence of subtlety. This most definitely is not a family film. It contains one unnerving scene of sexual assault and there is a sub-plot which has overtones of pedophilia. Those caveats aside, it also has a very exciting climactic scene which provides plenty of thrills.
Equipment used for this review:
Panasonic DMP-BD50 Blu-ray player
Panasonic Viera TC-P46G15 Plasma display, calibrated to THX specifications by Gregg Loewen
Yamaha HTR-5890 THX Surround Receiver
BIC Acoustech speakers
Interconnects: Monster Cable
Release Date: December 20, 2011
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