The original is superior in basically every regard, especially the relationship between Jimmy and his father.
In Toback's film it's much more interesting and believable since the father isn't a complete bastard. Sure, he's got a temper, but just take the scene of them having dinner, goofing around - you can tell they love each other, plus Keitel's reaction to the guy complaining about the music is priceless.
The audience actually felt with Jimmy when he found his father killed, not so much in the remake, which made me more or less indifferent about the confrontation between Thomas and Minskov at the end since his father was portrayed as a low-life who had it coming to him.
The scenes the remake copied also turned out disappointing, take the scene in which Jimmy goes to the pizzeria to collect for instance. The entire dialogue before the actual violence ('What if I want a slice pf pizza?') made that scene so memorable and is painfully missing in the remake.
Also, while Duris did an okay job, he's not even close to being as good as Keitel, plus the original's ending is way more memorable and fitting to the story.
So yeah, if 'Fingers' is a 7/10, 'Beat' is a 5.5 at best in my book. I'll continue to give 'Fingers' a rewatch every other year or so while I will most likely never bother to give 'Beat' another go.
Who are they? And what do they want?
😎
reply
share