A series of adaptations of an individual novel, kind of interesting.
Point Blank- Existential, experimental, iconoclastic 1960s crime thriller in the mold of the then-popular French New Waves movies. Icy, odd, distant, and structurally fairly unusual, even today. Uses the novel's basic premise as the springboard for an odd tale about existential emptiness and revenge. Great performance from Lee Marvin, some stunning cinematography, and very stylish, moody direction. A touch dated, but an interesting curio of a time when American cinema was willing to fund more than blockbusters.
Payback- Directorial debut of screenwriter Brian Helgeland, recut by Mel Gibson's production company in an attempt to make it into Lethal Weapon 5, complete with Gibson's obligatory torture scene and eventually him taking on the whole mob and blowing stuff up. An odd blend of Helgeland's attempt at Stark's aesthetic and a recut by someone going in a completely different direction.
Payback: Straight Up: The Director's Cut- Though not quite as rough as the Westlake novel, Helgeland's original cut hews closer to the original. It's a small movie of a small tale, and works much better than Gibson's knowingly ridiculous cut and plays like a 70s crime thriller Helgeland wants to emulate, though without the existential underpinnings or rawness. Still pretty good for what it is, and probably the closes adaptation outside of Darwyn Cooke's graphic novel.
Full Contact- Though not officially an adaptation of The Hunter, it does have a similar setup. Chow Yun Fat stars in this version from director Ring Lam Ling-Tung, a brutally violet, viciously nihilistic tale of a double-crossed thief who then proceeds to kill his way to revenge. Shot with a sucker-punch visual style and full of grimy, disreputable people, with the unique energy you'll find only in Honk Kong Action Cinema of the period and nowhere else. Interesting, but kind of punishing and so brutal that you eventually run out of people to care about and sort of watch it like a car accident. The famous "bullet-cam" shots still have a certain novelty value.
Elsewhere...
The Crazies- George Romero's tale of infected humans and bureaucracy trying to contain a virus. Intelligent and interesting in the way it deconstruction bureaucracy and social breakdown, but its raw, low-budget quality means that time has been very unkind to it in places. Interesting, but flawed.
The Crazies- Breck Eisener's remake of the above, loses most of sociological clout and depth of the original, but works much better as a thriller, one crackerjack set piece after another, and nicely nihilistic tone and electric energy. If only there were a way to fall between the two.
...28 Days Later- Despite director Danny Boyle's usual hyperactive visual tics, this derivative but highly effective horror thriller is one of the better ones of recent years. Yes, I know "THEY'RE NOT ZOMBIES!" and the infected hew more closely to the infected of the above-mentioned Romero film, but the plot and feeling seem more like Dawn of the Dead, and the whole third act is basically stolen from Day of the Dead. That said, it's done well, there's a nice intelligence behind it, it's properly gory and viscerally frightening when it needs to be, with a nice human edge. Shot on interlaced digital video at 408i, probably in an attempt to call back to the grainy 16mm of yore.
28 Weeks Later- Though this one is shot on grain Super 16 (And looks fantastic, it must be said.), this sequel aims more broadly. I'm not sure what its budget was, but I bet it was significantly higher than its predecessor. There are lot more impressive FX shots and a much bigger scale, though still grounded in human drama. Said human drama isn't quite as effective this time around, but it's a nice backbone for the super-bloody thrills which build to splattery bloodbath finale, ending in a cruel apocalyptic joke. Selfishness has a way of coming back to haunt you, and interventionism is scarier than you bargain for.
Point Blank- Existential, experimental, iconoclastic 1960s crime thriller in the mold of the then-popular French New Waves movies. Icy, odd, distant, and structurally fairly unusual, even today. Uses the novel's basic premise as the springboard for an odd tale about existential emptiness and revenge. Great performance from Lee Marvin, some stunning cinematography, and very stylish, moody direction. A touch dated, but an interesting curio of a time when American cinema was willing to fund more than blockbusters.
Payback- Directorial debut of screenwriter Brian Helgeland, recut by Mel Gibson's production company in an attempt to make it into Lethal Weapon 5, complete with Gibson's obligatory torture scene and eventually him taking on the whole mob and blowing stuff up. An odd blend of Helgeland's attempt at Stark's aesthetic and a recut by someone going in a completely different direction.
Payback: Straight Up: The Director's Cut- Though not quite as rough as the Westlake novel, Helgeland's original cut hews closer to the original. It's a small movie of a small tale, and works much better than Gibson's knowingly ridiculous cut and plays like a 70s crime thriller Helgeland wants to emulate, though without the existential underpinnings or rawness. Still pretty good for what it is, and probably the closes adaptation outside of Darwyn Cooke's graphic novel.
Full Contact- Though not officially an adaptation of The Hunter, it does have a similar setup. Chow Yun Fat stars in this version from director Ring Lam Ling-Tung, a brutally violet, viciously nihilistic tale of a double-crossed thief who then proceeds to kill his way to revenge. Shot with a sucker-punch visual style and full of grimy, disreputable people, with the unique energy you'll find only in Honk Kong Action Cinema of the period and nowhere else. Interesting, but kind of punishing and so brutal that you eventually run out of people to care about and sort of watch it like a car accident. The famous "bullet-cam" shots still have a certain novelty value.
Elsewhere...
The Crazies- George Romero's tale of infected humans and bureaucracy trying to contain a virus. Intelligent and interesting in the way it deconstruction bureaucracy and social breakdown, but its raw, low-budget quality means that time has been very unkind to it in places. Interesting, but flawed.
The Crazies- Breck Eisener's remake of the above, loses most of sociological clout and depth of the original, but works much better as a thriller, one crackerjack set piece after another, and nicely nihilistic tone and electric energy. If only there were a way to fall between the two.
...28 Days Later- Despite director Danny Boyle's usual hyperactive visual tics, this derivative but highly effective horror thriller is one of the better ones of recent years. Yes, I know "THEY'RE NOT ZOMBIES!" and the infected hew more closely to the infected of the above-mentioned Romero film, but the plot and feeling seem more like Dawn of the Dead, and the whole third act is basically stolen from Day of the Dead. That said, it's done well, there's a nice intelligence behind it, it's properly gory and viscerally frightening when it needs to be, with a nice human edge. Shot on interlaced digital video at 408i, probably in an attempt to call back to the grainy 16mm of yore.
28 Weeks Later- Though this one is shot on grain Super 16 (And looks fantastic, it must be said.), this sequel aims more broadly. I'm not sure what its budget was, but I bet it was significantly higher than its predecessor. There are lot more impressive FX shots and a much bigger scale, though still grounded in human drama. Said human drama isn't quite as effective this time around, but it's a nice backbone for the super-bloody thrills which build to splattery bloodbath finale, ending in a cruel apocalyptic joke. Selfishness has a way of coming back to haunt you, and interventionism is scarier than you bargain for.