Cooper's acting and how his character is written (especially in the 1st act) drags the whole thing down. I never thought the original was a great picture, but it works better than this one. The rest of the cast was underutilized as well.
shareHave not seen the first and I didn't actually know it was a remake until afterward.
I completely agree the cast was underutilized. I feel like the biggest problem is that "the bones" of a great movie were all there. The sets and lighting were great. The cast all could handle their roles very well. Even the story on the basic premise was good. It's like it had all these pieces together but it just felt.. flat? At no point did I really feel like I cared for anybody in the film or their motivations or emotions.
It's like the groundwork was all laid but everything needed to be turned up by 10-20% to really flesh out the movie. Almost as if this was setting the stage and then more would really "wow" you but it never came.
I'm not a fan of Cooper, but I thought this role would be a better match for him. I think his performance is much of the reason for the flat feeling.
shareI agree wholly on Cooper being a poor lead. His character was a quiet drifter. He just waltzed around brooding for much of the film.
In the original Nightmare Alley, Tyrone Power is a very believable conman and has quite a bit of charisma. You do care for his character.
Tyrone was also very good looking and charismatic. They needed someone with the same caliber or characteristic to pull off the character.
shareI’ve never been sold on Cooper as an actor to be honest. I’ll watch this mainly for Blanchett and Mara and of course Del Toro’s directing.
shareThis summarizes my feelings all too well.
This film had the makings of a great film, but the lead was just not someone I rooted for.
I love villanous leads as much as anyone, but this lead had no charm or charisma. So, I didn’t care how he ended up. At least now he can’t harm anyone now.