Movie Remakes that Should Not Be Made

We live in an era of movie remakes. Many films released in the last 30 years have been redone, sometimes retooled to create a fairly new movie experience (Planet of the Apes), other times a carbon copy of the first except perhaps with CGI and/or current actors (Psycho). Some have been great (The Thing 1982), and others have been terrible (The Stepford Wives). Two movie remakes are rumored to be in the works right now, great movies in their original form: Westworld and Escape from New York. But are they remakes that should or should not be made?

The original Westworld from 1973 is a classic. It was one of Michael Crichton's early sci-fi movies in which the robot inhabitants of an expensive resort apparently get a computer virus and start killing the guests.

Most of the characters are supposed to look completely human, so as long as somewhat talented actors play the parts, there is no change needed there. Some parts of the movie could be more effectively created in a modern remake, but they are few. The viewer first meets the main characters on a hovercraft ride to Westworld, and the special effects there are not particularly great. The only other area that might be able to use some updating is the view from the gunslinger, but that's only because technology has increased so much that the original view wouldn't look convincing today. It's an argument that should not be made.

So what could be the purpose in creating a Westworld remake? These few changes wouldn't make the movie very different from the original. Just about any change to the plot with the exception of more detail about the guests' experience at the resort would make it a completely different movie. Could this remake of Westworld be a good one? Yes, but it is so totally unnecessary that it should not be made. The only real good that might come from it is that it would introduce more people to this great movie.

A second movie rumored to be in the works is a remake of 1981's Escape from New York. New York's entirety has been turned into a maximum security prison; once you go in, you don't come out. The problem is that the U.S. President's plane has been hijacked and crashed into the heart of the city. One of the criminals on his way in has special forces training and so is recruited "voluntarily" to find the President and get him out within a certain time limit. There are a variety of characters here, but they are all human and are played pretty well by the original cast. This in itself is probably enough to show the remake should not be made.

But there are some problems with the technology we seen on the screen. My family loves the movie, but my kids laugh wildly when the head of security whips out a "cell phone" that is as big as his head. The computer screens in the ultralight look pretty hokey, as well.

However, the technology that convinces Escape from New York's hero (or antihero) to attempt to find the President is great, and it doesn't need any change even now, almost 30 years later in the age of technology. And the fantastic ending scene doesn't work quite as well if the tape is updated to a CD or mp3.

Why should the remake of Escape from New York not be made? Because updating just part of it, not all of it, doesn't change it much. Updating all of it could ruin some of the plot elements-not just technological window dressing, but plot. It works pretty well the way it is, so an Escape from New York remake should not be made.

Movie remakes should be put together when there is a substantial reason to do so. Changing the plot to make it more current can sometimes work, although some fans wonder why those creators don't just make a new movie. Making the technology more current, especially for sci-fi movies, may also be important. But sometimes it is better to leave the great movies the way they are. Some gifted Hollywood members could probably manage to remake 2001, thinking they were improving it, but it can't really be done and should not be made.

The same is true of the original Westworld and Escape from New York. Changing the plot indicates a lack of respect for the original. Changing the look is usually unnecessary and sometimes destructive. These are two movie remakes that most certainly should not be made.