Secret in their Eyes – Film Review V2.0

Directed by: Billy Ray

Starring: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Nicole Kidman, Julia Roberts, Dean Norris, Michael Kelly, Joe Cole, Alfred Molina

In cinemas March 11th

It always baffles me when a filmmaker decides to remake an already excellent film – in this case The Secret in Their Eyes, directed by Juan José Campanella, which won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 2010. Perhaps they thought audiences would prefer not to read subtitles. Or maybe they thought that they could improve on the original. Whatever the reason this remake has an all-star cast.

Ejiofor takes the lead as Ray, an FBI counter terrorism investigator who is called out when an unknown female’s body is found in a mosque. On arrival he is horrified to discover that it is his colleague Jess’s (Roberts) daughter. He vows to do his utmost to secure justice for the young woman but is short on suspects and a shattered Jess decides to leave the city. Ironically a picture that she finds while packing gives them a clue to a possible suspect however he turns out to be well connected and they are forced to let him go. It takes 13 years before Ray manages to find a new lead against the suspect that can resolve the case. But that is a long time and a lot has happened and people have changed and his suspect has also now disappeared.

If you were to take this as a standalone film and not consider the original this has many merits. There are some really great performances – especially from Ejiofor and Roberts who conveys Jess’s trauma in a completely heart breaking way. There is a nice build of tension and the pacing is good. However it “time hops” which is somewhat confusing and in places it is difficult to keep track of what is going on. On the whole it is a pretty straightforward thriller and if you hadn’t seen the original you would probably be very surprised by the twist at the end. However it is ultimately unsatisfying.  I think that this is partly because I had seen the original and it doesn’t even match it never mind add to it. I also felt that it became a bit bogged down in its own gravitas at times.

This is actually a pointless remake. The original is still too fresh in people’s heads and was just too good. Its shadow looms large over this and it is difficult to escape. That said many people watching this won’t have seen the original and for them this should prove enjoyable enough if a little heavy. A note to filmmakers though – if it ain’t broke don’t fix it!