Susan Granger’s review of “Straw Dogs” (Screen Gems)
In 1971, Sam Peckinpah stunned audiences with “Straw Dogs,” a provocative saga of violence and its consequences, starring Dustin Hoffman and Susan George. While writer/director Rod Lurie’s remake follows the same plotline, it takes a markedly different perspective, focusing on whether animalistic behavior is man’s nature or whether brutality is nurtured by a specific culture and societal acceptance.
It’s deer-hunting season when Hollywood screenwriter David Sumner (James Marsden) and his actress wife Amy (Kate Bosworth) drive into her hometown of Blackwater, Mississippi, in his Jaguar convertible. She’s going to prepare her late father’s home for sale while he works on a screenplay about the 1943 fall of Stalingrad.
But Amy has become a local celebrity and protective David is unnerved by her exhibitionistic behavior, particularly in front of her rugged ex-boyfriend, former quarterback Charlie Venner (Alexander Skarsgard from “True Blood”) who, along with three former teammates, is repairing the roof of their barn.
Because Friday night football reigns supreme in the Deep South, affluent Harvard grad David condescendingly refers to them as Straw Dogs, comparing them with the grass offerings that were revered in ancient Chinese ceremonies, then tossed aside when no longer needed.
But it’s after flirtatious Janice Heddon (Willa Holland), teenage daughter of barfly former football coach Tom Heddon (James Wood), disappears with mentally retarded Jeremy Niles (Dominic Purcell), that an explosive confrontation seems inevitable.
Best known for his strong, character-driven dramas (“The Contender,” “Resurrecting the Champ,” “The Last Castle,” “Nothing But the Truth”), Rod Lurie delves into the societal definition of masculinity, skillfully building the psychological tension, keeping it taut to its seemingly inevitable, fiery conclusion, as detailed in Gordon Williams’ novel “The Siege of Trencher’s Farm.” Significantly differing from Peckinpah’s misogynist interpretation, Kate Bosworth does not smile in complicity during the pivotal sex scene, changing the underlying implications of the thriller
While Bosworth, Marsden and Woods are superb, Sarsgard’s slyly nuanced performance is the most memorable.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Straw Dogs” is an ambiguous, intense, exciting 8, keeping you transfixed with terror.
