MovieChat Forums > Utopia (2020) Discussion > so, am I the only one who thinks the rem...

so, am I the only one who thinks the remake is better than the British original?

posted 4 years ago by exatera (3944)
2 replies | jump to latest

I actually didn't remember much of the original anymore, but I'll be honest - I also wasn't particularly impressed with it at the time. I mean the reason I even sought it out back in 2014-2015 was because everyone was raving what a genius show it was, but it didn't live up to my expectations.

So I rewatched it now for comparison (season 1, to be exact) after finishing the show on Prime.

And my observations were that the American show has a much better flow to it as a series, not to mention is more believable to an American viewer. I appreciated how it went into more detail on certain things. For instance on the British show it's never made clear what the villains actually do other than sit in that dark office with the carved wood walls.

The editing on it was rather choppy, the show could have benefited from some more exposition: like, right now we are going to this place and that, and this is our plan - that sort of thing, since honestly it seemed like some things were just happening out of nowhere. Also I liked the comic itself in the US version better, as well as the characters' interpretations of it, and how exactly it came to be sold - that was all done in a much more interesting (to me, at least) way. And Dystopia and Utopia are better titles than Utopia and Utopia part 2.

I am not sure why they added Jessica Rothe's character in the American version - just to show that the group still would have gone along with Jessica Hyde despite the murder?.. Or I guess to give Wilson Wilson a buddy to wait with for Ian and Becky?.. But her character didn't detract from the show, so I didn't mind.

All in all, as I was rewatching the original, I found myself thinking that I respect Gillian Flynn's vision, and do not consider the remake redundant like so many reviewers.

P.S.: in the end I couldn't even finish the original in its entirety, stopped at s02e02 because I felt like I was forcing myself to watch. That show is definitely not easy to binge.

[–] HAL9000 (935) a year ago

the british actors were a million times better, so was the atmosphere. utopia remake comes across as some stupid comedy flick or whatever.
but its redundant to rewatch either version since the script stays the same, so i can see why you stopped watching

[–] TerraFirma69 (1934) 6 months ago

I'm about halfway through it. It's enjoyable, but it's lacking the constant overbearing gritty and grim mood of the British one.

The music isn't disappointing, but it just can't match the brilliantly disturbing score of the original. I don't blame them, reimagining(?) that is a VERY big ask.

Also the cold brutal murder of Alice's mother right in front of her and Alice's screaming breakdown (what a way to open an episode!) was such an iconic moment for me in the original. I was looking forward to how that would go in this one, and it was a bit of a damp squib.