Pusher vs. Pushed out

Last week I got an overwhelming urge to re-watch one of my favorite movies, the Danish crime drama Pusher (1996). It's a subtle but grim story about Frank, a drug dealer who's life goes down the drain in just one week.

I, however, also noticed that there is a British remake from 2012, and I know, remakes are usually terrible, but I gave it a go anyway.

This is my comparison between the two.

The story is about 90% the same. The UK version changes locations and minor side characters, which is mostly fine. After all, there are sixteen years between the films, and many things have changed.

What's not fine are the changes made to major characters.

Danish Frank is played by Kim Bodnia, and he does an amazing job. His frustrations, anger and fear are palpable throughout the movie. He sells most scenes and can relay more with a look than a whole page of crappy dialogue.

British Frank Is played by Richard Coyle. He's not a bad actor, but he seems to sleepwalk throughout the movie. He comes across as either absent-minded or uncaring in most scenes, and that just doesn't work when dangerous gangsters are the threatening your life.

Frank has a good friend and co-dealer called Tonny/Tony.

Danish Tonny (Mads Mikkelsen) is great. Boorish, crude and weak. Not a good person in the slightest. But we are talking about drug dealers, not Red Cross volunteers. You aren't meant to like him. Mikkelsen has since become an international star, and with good reason.

UK Tony, (Bronson Webb) is not a bad actor, but Good God is his character annoying. There is no earthly reason why Frank would have him around. He's a giggling idiot, a weirdo loser. Enough said. Very bad characterization.

Frank's Girlfriend is Vic/Flo.

Danish Vic (Laura Drasbæk) is an exotic dancer, escort, and prostitute-in-denial with a heroin habit. With her, you see the beauty that's being rapidly chipped away by drugs and stress. She's pretty, but only because she's young, and you just know that in a couple of more years, she'll be a complete wreck. Or dead.

British Flo (Agyness Deyn) is also pretty. Much too pretty. In fact, Ms. Deyn used to be a professional model and it shows. She is bubbling with life and energy. You don't get the feeling that she needs to strip. She could walk into any agency and get a modeling job that pays ten times what the club pays her. Also her drug use feels fake. Finally, why is her name changed? Vic is short for Victoria, and that shouldn't be a problem in the UK.

Our final Important Character is Milo, the drug kingpin. He is played by Zlatko Buric in both films. Yes, it's the same guy, which I thought is pretty cool. But there is a problem. In the original, he is sleazy, hungry and dangerous. In the remake he is sadly pretty much a parody of himself.

Now let's take a look at the movies themselves. The original is directed by Nicolas Winding Refn. The remake is directed by Luis Prieto. Now to be fair, Refn saw and approved the remake before it was done, as well as doing a voice only cameo. One could say that if the original creator is okay with it, no one else can complain, but I'm complaining anyway.

Where the original takes time to establish the characters, the remake is all over the place. In fact, to cut this part short, let me just say that the original is well made with good techniques and attention to detail. The remake looks like a hefty dose of MTV slathered over a Guy Ritchie parody.

Even worse, the remake takes no time to demonstrate the humanity of the characters. One of the best scenes in the original is between Frank and Milo's main henchman Radovan (Hakan in the remake). Radovan expresses his disgust with the dirty violent work he does and explains how he would really rather own a restaurant. The scene is shot in a car, on the go, and feels so intensely alive.

The remake? A bar that looks like a green screen and a short monologue. Dull, lifeless and boring.

Finally I want to talk about the dialogue. The version of the original I re-watched had English subtitles. The dialogue in the remake was almost word for word the same as the subtitles. I could predict most of the dialogue perfectly.

Bottom line. If you remake a film, you either redo it from the bottom up, keeping only the core of the story, or then you make as faithful an adaptation as possible. Don't try to do both at the same time. Scenes make no sense if you keep one, but leave out another that sets the first one up. It's a mess.

I could go on, but I think you get the point.

I highly recommend the original 1996 version. It still holds up wonderfully, and with English subs, it's a far better movie than the UK version, no matter who you are.

Whew, that's all for today, until next time, stay away from scary gangsters and have a great week!