There's always talk of sequels in this business, always talk of dredging up a classic and retooling it to cash in on nostalgia. Sometimes they pop their heads up for a quick bit of buzz only to vanish again into the dank, dark wherever from whence they came. Other times they seem like pure fantasy until they actually happen. I mean who honestly thought we'd ever see the Star Wars prequels, or Die Hard 4 or Aliens Vs. Predator or Freddy Vs. Jason or Rocky 6 (Balboa) or for the love of all that is holy, Rambo 4? So as much as you want to take rumors like this with a grain of salt, you also have to acknowledge that someone might be crazy enough to make it. And that some of those attempts, no matter how misguided they might seem, can actually turn out to be pretty darned good.

Take for example this week's sequels du jour. Ferris Bueller's Another Day Off and Trainspotting 2 (aka Porno). Now, entertaining the idea of messing with classic films is not one of my great pleasures. It frightens me. The very notion that something I once loved and quoted and swore by is pilfered and turned into something that sucks the paint off of walls is terrifying. And in this case, dear god, I love them both.

But the discussion of these two prompted me to think about this in terms of Sophie's Choice. If I had to choose one to exist, which one would I allow to live so that the other may die? And if it comes down to that, then Ferris Bueller 2 come on down! I don't want to see a Trainspotting sequel. I don't care how good the book is. What makes all the filthy depression of that film bearable is the life reaffirming quality of hope that the film gives. The future is wide open. Life has begun anew. The idea of rejoining those characters 20 years later for their midlife crisis is something that would simply dampen the effect of the first film. How can you get that positive charge at the end of Trainspotting if you know that it doesn't actually all work out for the best? It can't possibly work out for the best if there's more story to tell.

What's interesting is that both films address midlife crises. But Ferris Bueller's return sounds more bearable. I can handle watching Matthew Broderick blow off work for a day on the town. As much as I love the original, it might be worth the risk of suckage to see how Ferris and company all turned out. The original doesn't hinge upon hope. It can all work out great or poorly for Ferris without altering the original. Trainspotting? Not so much.

Either way, I think I'm going to sit down with both of these classics this week. At the very least this has been a nice reminder of how much I do love them both.

Recommend (0)

|  Comments (0)

|  Email

|  Share

Share  Facebook Digg del.icio.us