I've watched all of the original and the first episode of the remake.
So far, I prefer the original. Maybe it's just because it's more accessible for me as a European, but ... I don't know. The US version is fairly ham-handed about a few things (Look, let's point out how odd the main female character is! And again. And again.), and I'm fairly sure the implications are much different in the remake -- for one, the entire racial issue isn't as prominent in the Danish-Swedish original (for obvious reasons), the border is heavily policed and controlled (again unlike the mostly 'drive-through' border between Sweden and Denmark), and the 'power imbalance' between the investigative forces is much more pronounced in the remake ... I think the Canadian-US border would've been a much closer match, if they had to remake it in the first place, but oh well.
I was also kind of disappointed that they stayed so close to the original -- down to styling choices and the general 'look' of the actors. Saga and Sonya look very alike, Daniel has the same dead-eyed stare in both versions ... I think if they'd diverged more, it might've been more interesting to me.
Adamantium wrote:
mikassyna wrote:
I enjoyed the Cross character's portrayal but think that the disrobing in front of her boss was indulgent and a cheap shot to get some skin on camera. [...]
Interesting. I agree on both issues. Have you seen the original? It's on YouTube and it's very good. They have the scene with changing in the office, but it was not exploitative and it was an empty office at 4am. Her boss is there but stays nothing. He has long hair and the general counter cultural look that in Europe would automatically mean he would not care very much about nudity.
Speaking of which, and on the exploitation front, the original has some scenes of a male actor getting dressed that expose much more than anything in the US show.
Also, the eye contact issue is more that she stares, which works better in her job. There is no moment when her boss says "make eye contact" and no moment when she says " sorry if I didn't use empathy" -- which did seem really off in the US version.
YES. This. All of the above, thank you, Adamantium.
I really thought that the on-screen sex scenes, full nudity sideview (male) and exposed female breasts were the main reason FX decided to reshoot ... that, and more revenue.
Btw -- favourite moment of the original first episode is probably when Martin introduces himself to Saga ("Martin \ ʁ̞oːð̞ˠ̠ \
(*) -- R-O-H-D-E"). Danish pronunciation ftw!
(*) no guarantee for accurate transcription