Review of Nightmare Alley (2021) by Rickdanger78 — 13 Feb 2022

Del Toro’s remake of this classic is a fool’s errand; how do you update a perfect masterpiece? More importantly, why? Is there a more modern or more complex idea you want to express? Are there cinematic techniques that can add depth? Sadly, the answer to all these questions is no; there’s no compelling reason to recreate this, and Del Toro’s attempt is rote, unconvincing, and ultimately redundant to the original.

Sure, it looks great, and there are some strong performances, especially Jenkins and Blanchett, but the script is weak and wordy. The story, so convincing and passionate in its original context, is here a pantomime of a period piece.

The culminating twist was a stretch even in the original, and it’s forced and ultimately silly here, despite Blanchett’s seductive best efforts. Most damaging is that Cooper just can’t carry the Tyrone Power role, unable to portray the incremental corruption of an earnest hustler into a debased monster.

When Powers delivers his famous final line, it perfectly sums up everything that went before. When Cooper delivers it, it looks like an acting class exercise, and fails to deliver the devastating kick required.

In the portrayal of the rise and progressive fall of a con, Powers was born for it. Cooper, not so much. Overlong and underwrought, this is a disappointing time sink with nothing new to say and no innovative way to say it.