"Abre los ojos" for dummies.

Rating: 2/10 (15 April 2011)

Though Vanilla Sky is not a bad movie per se, it is on the other hand a terrible remake of a great movie. We can see how Crowe tried to stick to Amenábar's screenplay scene by scene, how he tried to make an identical movie but shot in the U.S. with Hollywood stars. A pointless idea to start with, but never mind. We also can see how Crowe got lost pretty soon.
The characters lost their depth and complexity. They all come out with one trait only. Crowe succeeded in making the originally charming and fascinating girls look like teenage cheerleaders. Don't even get me started on the male characters. The dialogues lost their sharpness and delicacy ; the original meaningful calm scenes and silences were replaced by hysterical shouting, maybe to make it easier to the public to understand when someone is not happy. The relationship between the characters has also been damaged. This comes first as a result of the simplified-minded characters, but also as facts : for example, Crowe unbalances the forces between the two main male characters who were originally childhood friends by making one the employee of the other.
But, well, the original genius plot stays, and I can see why so many people loved that film. Nevertheless I think many of those people would change their mind if they watched the original "Abre los ojos" masterpiece. Remaking a film is worthy if it aims to adapt a basic plot to a whole other context, in order to give it a new standpoint, new insights. This is not the case. I felt I was watching "Abre los ojos" for dummies.