better then many remakes

Rating: 8/10 (17 June 2005)

Seeing MTV film's name attached, seeing Adam Sandler as Paul Crewe, I had some doubts going into this one. I was gladly wrong about what I first thought. The movie was updated to modern times, while still remaining very faithful to the original, and in many cases, some of the same scenes were played out. They even managed to kill off Chris Rock's caretaker In almost the same fashion they did in the original. The library scene, and the scene in the shower in which the Warden asked Crewe to throw the game were very close to the original. Instead of simply making a scene for scene remake, like what was done years ago with the Bashinger/Baldwon 'The Getaway" flick years ago, the director manager to remake the movie, without being scene for scene, put a creative tip to the scenes, and still remain faithful to the original. I would have preferred to see Bernadette Peters reprise the role of the Warden's secretary, instead of Cloris Leachman, who was the weakest part of the film. The only other thing that I was kind of disappointed in was the end. Guard Knauer saying he knew about the Warden's plans to blame Crewe for caretaker's death smack of having an overly happy ending. in the original film, the director let you know about the respect the two had for each other after the game, instead of being blatant about it. Kevin Nash was a plus as the Guard slipped female hormones, and Steve Austin seemed to be at home in the role of sadistic guard. A few other negatives however, goto Bill Romanawski as Guard Lambert and Bill Goldberg. Romanawski was a poor substitute for the late Ray Nichstkkie, and Goldberg was a bad as actor as he was a pro wrestler. Instead of Romanawski, Brain Bozworth would have been better in the role. (funny that Boz wore his old sooners number 44 in the film. Other better candidates would of been Broncos safety John Lynch, or former NFL player Steve Emtman. Romanawski's acting seemed awkward and very amateur.
Overall, this rates as one of the bets remakes that I've seen in a long time, and I was glad to see that my one view of the movie was wrong. A great movie, worth the price of admission.