Let Me In - My Thoughts

[SergioB97]

I caught a midnight screening last night. Here are some thoughts.

What I Liked

The performances from the cast, particularly the two young leads. Kodi's Owen really made you feel for his plight and I was able to connect with him emotionally more than I did with Kåre Hedebrant's Oskar in the original. It probably helped that the bullies were physically bigger and more menacing than their LTROI counterparts, but I believe Kodi really nailed the role. Chloe also delivered a very solid performance, even if she failed to capture that other-worldly, wise-beyond-her-years quality that Lina Leandersson brought to the role of Eli. Richard Jenkins was phenomenal. He had few lines, but it was hard not to empathize with his physical performance of the gimpy, beaten, tired, doomed caretaker.

The cinematography. Kudos to Greig Fraser for doing an excellent job of replicating, with enough variations of his own, some of the palette, atmosphere and gloom captured by Hoyte Van Hoytema in the original film. I was particularly fond of the rich teal-blue hues used in the around-town nighttime scenes.

The execution of some of the scenes. The bullying scenes (and the bullies themselves), for one thing, were more violent and closer in tone to those in the novel, which was a pleasant surprise. I also loved the scene where Owen is talking to Abby, right after the candy-store sequence, and is interrupted by his mother calling him (taken from the novel). Abby is gone when he turns back around, and a visibly disappointed Owen returns to his apartment, only to see the smiling Abby there, waiting for him, to say goodnight. For anyone who's ever been that age and been with a girl you just couldn't bear to be parted from, this scene is very emotionally resonant. The same goes for the aforementioned candy-store scene. I particularly found this version more satisfying than the one in LTROI. And although the Culture Club's "Time (Clock of the Heart)" is an unabashedly pop song, in a bizarre way, it somehow managed to fit the scene. Other favorites include the scene where Oskar sees the old photo-booth shots of Abby and another boy, becomes upset and wants to leave, but Abby cannot bear to see him go and blocks his way, as well as the pool climax at the end, which was effective and memorable in its own right due to its darker, more violent execution.

What I Did Not Like

For a remake that is supposed to mimic the pace of LTROI, Let Me In felt somewhat rushed, particularly in the earliest scenes between Owen and Abby, where their interaction just did not seem to flow smoothly. In the Rubik's Cube scene, for example, one minute Abby is mysterious and guarded, the next she was a smiling, regular 12-year-old, without anything to smooth out that transition. The scene where Abby tries on a dress belonging to Owen's mother, which was a highlight in the original, also comes across as blink-and-you missed-it, thus losing its potential charm.

Where Let Me In really takes a beating, however, is in the music score department. I know some have praised Michael Giacchino's score, but I personally found it to be bland, low-key and ultimately forgettable. I think certain scenes, such as the "I have to go away" scene, suffered because of this. The same scene in the original was made truly emotionally resonant because of the heart-string-tugging Eli's Theme. The bottom line is that compared to Johan Söderqvist's haunting, melancholy score for the original film, Giacchino's music fails to pass muster.

The same goes for the movie's CGI effects. Mercifully, they were mostly restricted to wide shots of vampire Abby attacking her victims, but they were still very glaring in their cartoon-ish quality. The CGI vampire used in the tunnel attack was downright atrocious. LTROI executed these scenes using real performances for the most part, and as a result, they were infinitely more effective and satisfying.

Lastly, I was very disappointed that it wasn't only the flashback scene glimpsed in the trailer that was not present in the film, but also the scene where a sleeping Abby is awakened by the sunlight hitting her arm. Both would have gone a long way in helping to differentiate the movie from Alfredson's original.

Overall, as much as I loved Let Me In, I still give the edge to LTROI. With that said, I will definitely go see it again and eagerly look forward to an extended director's cut (or something similar) on Blu-ray. To put it in simple terms, Let Me In is like a very good cover of an excellent song. It won't quite match the original, but it's great in it's own right.

[Imnotazombie]

I agree with you! I still love both movies, and I'm glad tot see a fellow fan of the original acknowledge that this movie IS different. Not shot for shot like everyone has been thinking.