With "The Vanishing" (1993), George Sluizer joins the short list of directors who have remade one of their own films; unlike Alfred Hitchcock and "The Man Who Knew Too Much" (1956), he does not improve upon his original work. With that said, this remake is not as bad as some have claimed; in fact it is perfectly watchable, and Jeff Bridges is well-cast as the well-adjusted psycho-next-door. It's just that, with so many scenes and even pieces of dialogue replicated shot-for-shot and line-for-line, you wonder about the purpose of its existence. If there is one in the mind of Sluizer, it must be the alternate ending; on one hand it's true that it's a conventionally happy Hollywood ending, on the other hand Nancy Travis, in the beefed-up part of the new girlfriend, makes an unconventionally kickass action heroine! (she rescues the male lead before he has to rescue her). In fact, Travis is so much livelier than Bullock (the vanished girlfriend) in this particular film that you can't help but wonder if maybe Kiefer Sutherland should just cut his losses and focus exclusively on her from the get-go. ** out of 4.
Review of The Vanishing
