Funny Games (2008)

3.5 out of 5 Stars
I have a feeling that many people will loathe this film and say that it is 'Hostel-esque' gore. Yes, it's brutal and shameless and makes absolutely no apologies for itself. But unlike gore films where (for the most part, Eli Roth aside) the director's main purpose is usually to depict computer generated gore and half naked girls, I think Haneke goes a step further and approaches the topic with a more intellectual, satirical, meta theatrical and post modern approach. I'm biased, of course, having been disturbed yet riveted by Haneke's films from the 90s. Someday I'll post my review of 'Benny's Video' (which while obscenely disturbing is actually a very astute commentary on the Third Reich and the treatment of Bosnians. And the original 1997 'Funny Games' continues with the same underlying political statements.
So, why remake this as an 'American' film and set it in East Hampton? Simply because American audiences (when viewing films centered on murder and torture) are aching for the final redemption. As mentioned in the 'Scream' films, there is always one 'good guy' left alive to tell the next story. Or in the case of the more 'home invasion type suspense films', usually the family is left mostly intact and the bad guy (s) are killed. But we've got a Haneke film on our hands and cause and effect rarely go hand in hand. While the torture scenes in this film are hard to watch, the confidence of the family that they *will* survive only serves to act as a cruel (though quite clever) joke on the expectations of those who choose to see this film. It opened in public distribution, which I also found to be a rather interesting choice. Audiences will no doubt write loathing and scathing reviews or walk out of theater. Which is what Haneke would want!
And if you read my review and think this film sounds pretentious, or that it will suck, all I can say is that I could watch Michael Pitt read the phone book on screen and still be entertained. His piercing eyes, his sociopathic apathy -- amazing.
But all that aside, I can't say that I 'liked' this movie. I appreciated it, but some of the torture scenes were very drawn out and hard to watch. I had seen the original so I knew not to get attached to the characters, and even so, it's cold, calculating and...yes, I'll say it...very well done. The joke is on the audience.