The Eye (Remake)

I really liked the original Hong King film, Jian Gui, so I thought I would give this American remake a chance. Unfortunately The Eye was almost the exact same as the original, and I just hate it when a remake doesn't bring something new to the table. On the other hand, the remake stars Alessandro Nivola, and I'll pretty much salivate over that guy in anything he ever does (including singing and dancing in Kenneth Brannagh's Love's Labors Lost), so I can't be too down on the film regardless of how much I would like to be.

In The Eye, Jessica Alba plays Sydney, a blind violinist who receives a corneal transplant. Finally, for the first time since she was very young, she can see. While she is getting used to seeing the world again, she realizes that some things that she sees aren't real. Some of those things are ghosts, and they want something from her. Alessandro Nivola plays her doctor, who sort of ends up falling for her and helping her uncover the mystery. Why is this happening? Who was her donor, and why, now after all of this time, is she seeing these ghosts? Are the visions real, or is she losing her mind?

Long story short, I liked the original better. This one had some nice atmosphere, but overall I think the original did it all better. It was spookier, the ghosts were more forboding, and well, even with avingt o read subtitles, the acting was far better. I would probably feel differently if there was something new and fresh brought to the story in the American remake, but there really wasn't. I liked Ringu and The Ring because I thought each really stood on their own. The Ring was similar enough to the original and yet still had a feeling of its own. The Eye didn't really have that.

Rating: 3 Purrs for some creepy ghost scenes and Mr. Nivola, but that's pretty much it.