MovieChat Forums > The Tunnel (2013) Discussion > Great original series, but the 3rd time ...

Great original series, but the 3rd time was not the charm

posted 11 years ago by RaidLOQ
7 replies | jump to latest

Finally got around to finishing The Tunnel tonight. I've seen all the series remakes - Bron/Broen (both seasons of the Swedish/Danish original), The Bridge (US remake of S1), and I have to say that The Tunnel (UK S1 remake) is the weakest of the bunch by far.

The original SE/DK series had such a great cast of main characters, especially Saga who just nailed it. She was adorable in her ways and Martin was still a bit likeable even with his faults, especially how he became protective of Saga. It also had a precise and well explained plot (at least by the end), where reasons and questions were answered (why TT killed certain people, how they tied to his son's death, etc.) The ending was very well done and you felt for the main characters. They also grew a lot in this series, whereas in The Bridge much less so, and The Tunnel almost nil.

The US remake was decent, mainly because the supporting cast was pretty good (especially the US side cop team made up of some wacky characters), tho the story here wandered a bit too much for it's own good, and got a bit off focus with the details. Sonya was a fairly good interpretation of Saga, but I felt Marco's character was far less likeable than Martin - in fact, he was kind of a dick most of the time. The story did stay mostly true where it mattered, and branched out a bit to make it unique on the side stuff. The ending was close enough too.

The Tunnel however seemed to lack on all fronts in comparison. First, the main characters were not nearly quirky enough. Elise lacked the sort of naivete with people that Saga portrayed so well; she felt a bit off, but not off *enough*. Karl was just much too... normal. He lacked the down-on-his-luck vibe that Martin and Marco had - he seemed like just a normal bloke most of the series. Even the bad guy seemed too obvious - Jens in the original series was sly and stone cold, and less predictable in behavior leading up to the end. Probably the only character that was more vibrant in this series was the son, Adam. In fact, most of the cast just seemed dull in comparison to the other versions.

The story is also where I felt The Tunnel dropped the ball a bit - it did stay closer to the original as far as TT's crimes went, but they seemed to lack the punch or interesting detail in comparison. Also certain aspects seemed glazed over, so not knowing the original motivations it seemed a lot more random. Bron tied almost everything back much cleaner. The ending of The Tunnel was much too clean, almost happy in comparison. Karl hardly seemed as affected as he should have by his son's death - and TT getting injured severely sort of concluded it with an almost "good guys win" typical ending - that definitely lacked the bittersweet finale of Bron (and to some extent The Bridge).

All in all it was not a horrible remake, but if you are aware of or have seen the others, then it's really not worth the time.

[–] paddyirl 11 years ago

I haven't watched the original but I'm working through the US version and I prefer the UK/French one over the American. I think mainly because Marco is a total unlikable douche in the US one. Karl for all the crap he has done as does seems like he is aware that he is a *beep* up, so far it seems Marco has a sense of entitlement and maybe they were trying to put some Latin machismo into his character but he isn't likable at all.

I haven't finished the US version but I prefer the main characters in the UK/French one even if the supporting characters in the American one were better. I actually think had the original plan of a US-Canadian border happened the series would have been better.

[–] 11 years ago

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[–] lezboyd 11 years ago

Totally agree. I always had a feeling from the reviews that the US version was not as refined as the European versions.

I personally liked this series a lot. It was well made, and well acted. I thought that both the leads gave a very effective and controlled performance, although I did find that the supporting actors were not anything to write home about. They did their part and that was it.

I am gonna check out the original Swedish version now. But the US version, I am going to give that a miss.

--I know this 'cause Tyler knows this.

[–] bakerstreetdozen 11 years ago

A lot of people seem to prefer the US version to this one and I honestly don't get it. I thought the acting in the US version was invredibly stilted at times; Demian Bichir and Ted Levine were really the only ones that I liked. Diane Kruger was horribly miscast and a lot of the supporting actors seemed like something out of a made-for-TV film with the quality of performance they brought to the table. The story also wandered far too much off-course and I eventually just lost interest.

From what I got to see of it, I thought The Tunnel was a massive improvement in terms of the quality of acting, writing and story pacing. I unfortunately haven't had the chance to see the original version but I may order the DVDs from Amazon UK after hearing such great things and knowing that I enjoy the basic storyline.

[–] CoCoSan 10 years ago

Thanks for the tip. We loved both seasons of (the SE/DK) The Bridge and tonight watched episode 1 of The Tunnel. We were expecting something with a similar concept not an exact replica. There was no tension because we knew what was going/not going to happen. We have decided not to watch the rest of the series.

[–] fitzysbuna 10 years ago

well you are missing out on a great show !

[–] Ithilfaen 10 years ago

I don't know.

I checked the Tunnel out of curiosity because I love the original and I didn't really like The Bridge but Poesy and Dillane are good actors so I gave it a shot.

I was pleasantly surprised actually. They managed to make the location relevant, again (even though the US version had more of an edge because of the Mexican/US border, imo) but didn't fall into clichés for either the French or the Brits.

The acting was excellent and I, for one, appreciate the fact that they weren't too heavy handed on the female character. She's quirky and weird, and off, but they don't make it unbelievable as in The Bridge (well, Kruger is a big part of the problem but the writing is trying very hard to sell the fact she's odd) but it's enough to make her connection with Karl interesting and unique, and to make their odd couple work.

As for the overall plot, it's true that they are glossing some things over from the original, but I didn't miss it and somehow, even though I knew where they were going, the pacing seemed to be handled better than in the US version.

For every lie I unlearn I learn something new - Ani Difranco