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Nattevagten (1994)
Rate:
7
Viewed:
7/25
7/25:
I don't get the concept of a director remaking his own foreign film, especially when it's already strong, for
the American audience.
For proof, I present The Vanishing which is a failed remake of
Spoorloos. Following the same example, it's Ole Bornedal who did the same
for Nattevagten, and the result is Nightwatch with Ewan McGregor
and Nick Nolte. I had seen the latter three times before and thought I would be let down by the former
but got surprised by how fresh and original it felt.
For starters, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau is a much better actor than Ewan McGregor who obviously ripped off his
mannerisms and everything else. Ulf Pilgaard is perfect as Peter Wörmer and has minimal screen time compared to
Nick Nolte who went too far, ruining his character. It's a toss-up between Kim Bodnia and Josh Brolin as
Martin's friend, but they're effective in each own way.
Thanks to proper lighting, Nattevagten has the eerie atmosphere down pat and is rather brutal. Happily,
I didn't feel bothered by the flickering lights. Another plus is there's no black sheet partially covering the
façade of the building where Martin works at. The story makes more sense with subtleties going through well.
One major part that didn't occur in the remake is Martin and his girlfriend having sex in the morgue room which
actually became a plot device.
There are several negatives. When the dead female was discovered by Martin, causing him to alert others, the body
simply disappeared before they could come. That meant somebody had to clean up the blood trail in a record time.
I don't think so. Another is a female on the table breathing and moving too much; she needs to learn how to
play dead. Now, here's the $64,000 question: why all of the work when the administration should install
security cameras in select rooms?
All in all, forget Nightwatch; Nattevagten is superior.