Nightmare Alley

 

                                      Okay so now that I officially watched the original classic to Nightmare Alley, I decided to see director Guillermo del Toro's take on his version to Nightmare Alley and see what he brought to the table, and I must say he brought a whole lot to the table then Steven Spielberg did when he remade West Side Story. I will say after watching this great/amazing film, I'm officially going on record and apologize to Guillermo del Toro about my joke I made on my last review for which had much to do with his last movie Shape of Water, now I feel bad deep down because del Toro is a gifted storyteller and a great filmmaker hell he brought me Pacific Rim, Hell Boy and a great sequel to the 1998 Blade film. Bradley Cooper stars in the movie along with great femme fatales in Cate Blanchett, Toni Collette and Rooney Mara. Like the 1947 version I still can't stop thinking about what I just saw moreover found it astounding, so without wanting to talk more about this movie   

                                      In the 1940's New York, down on his luck Stanton Carlisle (Bradley Cooper) endears himself to a clairvoyant (Toni Collette) and her mentalist husband (David Strathairn) at a traveling carnival. Using newly acquired knowledge, Carlisle crafts a golden ticket to success by swindling the elite and wealthy. Hoping for a big score, he soon hatches a scheme to con a dangerous tycoon (Richard Jenkins) with help from a mysterious psychologist (Cate Blanchett) who might be his most formable opponent yet.

                                      Now the best way to describe which is best between the original and remake is very simple, it’s just like when the remake to 3:10 to Yuma was released in 2007 which stared Christian Bale and Russell Crowe, and both films are exceptionally good between the 1957 version and 2007 version, this is just like that were each film is exceptionally great and amazing you just cannot decide which one is better because in all honesty there both great in their own right. What makes this latest version to Nightmare Alley amazing is it shows all the horrors of carnival life and the city life, but most importantly it dives real deep into destiny and fate as well, and Coopers Stanton Carlisle, goes on this journey maybe wanting to change himself of what he once was but his hubris is so strong that he just cannot escape his destiny. And Bradley Cooper does such a great job in creating his own version of Stanton Carlisle that's the complete opposite of Tyrone Power's portrayal of Stanton Carlisle and without giving any spoilers, really the only difference between Cooper's portrayal and Power's portrayal, is that Power's Carlisle was just a regular average man that's a decent person who is trying to make a living and wanting to get out of the carnival business but after on mistake he feels so much guilt it kind of haunts him but has Molly to be his somewhat conscious and reason that keeps him from losing his sanity, while Cooper's portrayal is we don't know him at first but once we see him throughout his journey we begin to understand that he's a unremorseful person and is willing to sacrifice everything to get to the top of the ladder even if it means his soul. I've seen a good chunk of Cate Blanchett's films through the years, and I can honestly say that Nightmare Alley is hands down her best work I've seen in quite a long time, this is the first time ever that I see her play a character that's mysterious and beautiful but is far more threatening and so scary at the same time and I though she did an amazing job playing Dr. Ritter. In truth I haven't read the book yet, although it’s going to be in my many books I'm going to check out and read, but I can honestly Guillermo del Toro did an amazing job in staying true to the source material of the book and he really does a fantastic job really balancing out some of the great troupes to the film noir genre, in some of the scenes to, as always balancing out his unique style of fantasy horror. The other thing he does great at is really showing all aspects of humanity, for example when it comes to the world of the Carnival it’s really filled with people that's either trying to escape their troubled past or venerable people with nowhere else to go, while the city life you can really see that it's a far more dangerous world fill with people that are dangerous but are also incapable of seeing the good in themselves then in others and del Toro does a great job in not being afraid creating pain and flaws in people that are not all perfect. Now the last film I saw that shock me to the core that I had to step away from the movies, but also thought was amazing at the same time was Promising Young Woman, the latest remake to Nightmare Alley I felt like the guy from Leprechaun 2 where he screams OMG to the screen in terms of how amazing it was but I also felt shocked to the very core moreover just need to step away from the movies because I was beginning to hate myself, in a strange way I can't explain. Now that I watched the original Nightmare Alley I felt grateful in finding a hidden gem that really needs to be seen by tons of people moreover thought the whole scenery and story was just insane, but now after watching the 2021 version, I'm not quite sure I can watch movies or TV again for a while, I might have to start off with watching something that can take my mind off of the world to Nightmare Alley. Guillermo del Toro's version of Nightmare Alley is a dark night of the soul in such amazing way that I would highly say that it's up there with The Last Duel as one of the best movies of 2021 and I would highly recommend this to everyone including the original film.