Rear Window (1998)

One of my all time favorites.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

This remake of Hitchcock's classic tale can't equal the master's work, but is a suspenseful and interesting little movie with plenty of thrills for the modern audience. A real-life disabled Christopher Reeve (as a result of a fall from his horse) takes the lead role originally played by Jimmy Stewart, and manages to create a warm and sympathetic character despite the fact he's a voyeur who enjoys watching the private antics of the people living opposite him. Although the film is packed with plot contrivances and skimmed-over holes (WHY didn't anyone else hear a scream that night, anyway?), it's easy to forgive these and concentrate on the strong use of lighting and the riveting story woven in only a few separate locations.Okay, so the film does have many problems, like the tacked on, rather silly, Reeve vs. killer finale and some cloying sentimentality which threatens to become distasteful, but on the whole this is a harmless and watchable television movie with a lot more subtlety - and intelligence - than most of its ilk. Daryl Hannah plays the female love interest and it's a revelation to find that she can actually act instead of just playing a blonde bimbo; okay, so she's not great, but she'll do. Veteran Robert Forster also turns up playing a cop as always, putting in a nice cameo. The killer is enjoyably hissable and there are plenty of interesting minor characters whom we only ever see through the windows of the apartments caught up in their own little worlds.REAR WINDOW is at its strongest with the characterisation, and the prevalence of realism over special effects or action makes it down-to-earth and appealing to a family audience. Like Reeve's character, the film manages to hook you into getting involved with the machinations of the people we only witness through the glass. There are a couple of spooky bits involving good use of shadows (memorably highlighting a girl's face, turning her into a grinning demon) and unnatural phenomenon (welding sparks causing a room's ceiling to flicker mysteriously), although I could have done without the twist downbeat ending which just seems to have been tacked on for the sake of it (as a homage to Hitchcock perhaps; a final joke at the audience's expense?). Otherwise, REAR WINDOW is an agreeable watch even if not up to the level of the original classic.

A recently paralyzed architect, Jason Kemp, believes he has witnessed a murder from his apartment window. Jason's colleague, Claudia, quickly becomes his partner in trying to solve the mysterious puzzle that lies in the apartment across the way.The more-than-patient detective, Moore, grudgingly responds to their repeated calls and accusations, but believes Jason's imagination is getting the best of him. Determined to uncover the truth, Jason continues to dig deeper - eventually finding himself locked in a deadly game of cat and mouse. TV remake of the classic. Doesn't that say enough? It's simply horrible.

What on earth was the point of this load of dross? I presume it was a vehicle for Mr Reeve? Hitchcock's Rear Window, was one of the greatest suspense films ever, the only suspense here was how long could I keep awake. Robert Forster ought to have known better, he is a superb actor and is just about the only character in this movie one can recognise as being bothered. Teleplays, with some honourable exceptions, are usually crap, but there was more wood in this script than in Sherwood Forest. Leave well alone when it comes to attempting to remake the classic movies, I admired Christopher Reeve for his heroic struggle against adversity, he will be remembered for doing many better things than this. If only I could have given it nought out of ten. DREADFUL.

I can't say this movie was extremely disappointing because I didn't have any high expectations in the first place, the main reason being that this movie was trying to remake a classic movie that should never have been remade. But that aside you still wouldn't have that good a movie. For one thing the romance isn't believable for a second, and the romance doesn't have that big apart in the first place, so there's not even a chance to develop the romance to make it believable. Another thing is that little facts are given to convince you that the murder really happened, and yet the whole movie you are forced to believe that the murder happened, and the characters never even remotely doubt it, which is another reason the original is better, because in the original the whole movie you don't know if it happened or not, facts are thrown in saying that the murder happened and then others facts are thrown in saying it didn't happen, and that kept suspense building, you wondered if it did happen. Also, in this version the murder is the whole plot, while as in the original other dramas are going on and they would take a break to watch them. This movie also has nonstop cheesy lines and clichés, and movie is neither suspenseful, nor dramatic. As much as I hated this movie I will say that it did have some good acting from Christopher Reeve and Darel Hannah. other then that, I would watch the original instead.