Amazon.com video review:
Numerous critics had already sharpened their knives even before Gus Van
Sant's shot-for-shot color "re-creation" of the 1960 black-and-white
Hitchcock classic was released, chiding the Good Will Hunting
director for defiling hallowed ground. This intriguing cinematic curiosity,
though, is hardly as sacrilegious as critics would lead you to believe. If
anything, Van Sant doesn't take enough liberties with his almost
slavish devotion to the material, now updated with modern references. At
times, you wish Van Sant would cut loose with a little spontaneity, a
little energy, a little something. Unfortunately, when he does
venture outside Hitchcock's parameters, with inserted shots of storm clouds
during the murder sequences, it's to little effect. Granted, he liberally
splashes color throughout the film (especially in the case of the infamous
shower scene), and this is a great-looking movie, but in his obsession with
adding a new physical dimension to the film, there's little insight into
these characters that Hitchcock hadn't already provided. Vince Vaughn, a
robotic and giggly Norman, doesn't crawl under your skin the way
boy-next-door Anthony Perkins did, and Anne Heche is admirable if not very
sympathetic in the Janet Leigh role. Van Sant does score a minor coup,
though, in his casting of the supporting roles: Julianne Moore provides a
welcome shot of energy as Heche's irritable and curious sister, William H.
Macy is a perfect small-time detective, Viggo Mortensen is studly enough to
make you understand why Heche would want to run away with him, and James
LeGros walks away with his one brief scene as a used car salesman. And
Danny Elfman's gorgeous rerecording of Bernard Herrmann's score is a
potent supporting character unto itself. Students and fans of the original
film will get a kick out of the modern revisions, but don't expect anything
of Hitchcockian caliber; watch it for the sum of its intriguing parts, but
not the whole. --Mark Englehart
