Not as good as the original, but yards better than Vinnie Jones's effort

Rating: 7/10 (19 February 2007)

As always the good guys wear white wear the bad guts wear black. or do they? Once again, viewers are asked to decide whether law and order are naturally the good guys, or whether it is okay to cheer for the bad guys, especially if the good guys are the bad guys, representing the good guys who are really the bad guys. Confused? You shouldn't be.
Adam Sandler makes a decent job as portraying the all-American superstar gone wrong in this remake of the Burt Reynolds '70s movie. Sandler, like Reynolds rarely stretches his acting and it felt like a vision of what Sandler's life would be like if he had not made a living making movies.
The difference between the two films, for me, however, seemed that the original attempted to educate people about the complexities of American Football. The remake assumed a knowledge about rules and scoring systems, yet at the same time decided that keeping the scoring system simple made for an understanding. The original had missed kicks etc. This one keeps the more technical aspects such as the drop goal and the safety kept back in the locker room.
The sports clips are well made and the convicts feel more realistic. The original tough guys lacked a certain menace, whereas people liked Dulip Singh bring an all too real physical presence. In addition, the guards are more physical and commanding.
On the negative side, Cloris Leachman should have not stooped so low for a paycheck. She's better than that. Why Rob Schneider suddenly appears is also a mystery? I guess he replaces Chris Rock as the comedy provider.
In the original, Paul Crewe spends time in the swamps before caving in, whereas this time, it is time in the hole. In the swamp, you really felt the punishment, whereas the film failed to portray the hardships of the hole and the desert in which he was detained.
I am always critical of remakes. Why? because they often fail to produce anything new and often detract from the vision or the impact of the original. Fortunatly, this is a remake worth making, if not to put the abysmal Vinnie Jones' Mean Machine into the relegation zone.