And Soon the Darkness (2010)

Directed by: Marcos Efron
Cast: Amber Heard, Odette Yustman, and Karl Urban

Plot: Two girls are biking through Argentina until they get into a fight and one girl leaves. When she returns, her friend has gone missing and now it is upto Stephanie (Amber Heard) to figure out what happened and to piece everything together...but who can she trust?

Review:
Another day, another remake - but thankfully today it is a good remake. The original And Soon the Darkness was a well done nifty little thriller about two British women in France. It was a nifty, but very flawed film. This remake places two (sexy as fuck) American women in Argentina. It was a nice change to help differentiate from the original. Our two main characters are Stephanie (Amber Heard) and Ellie (Odette Yustman). Stephanie is a responsible smart woman who likes to stay on track, while Ellie is a wild party girl that would rather have sex than look at the sights. The characters aren't anything new, but each actress brought to their roles a certain spark to make me care. Because I cared, that helped the suspense.
Especially Amber Heard; she is a fantastic young actress who should be a much bigger star by now. She was fantastic in the role and really had me with her character the entire film. I wanted her to find Ellie and to get out of this situation alive.
The movie was BEAUTIFULLY shot. The director really used the Argentina landscape to its fullest, especially in the early shots of the film. This was a gorgeous film to look at and he made me want to be there in Argentina. To go along with this, the film also had a pretty well-done score. It wasn't anything amazing, but it got the job done, and I think it backed up the visuals very nicely. Well done Tomandandy.
The film as it goes on, really becomes different from the original, and that was the best way to go. We don't need another shot-by-shot remake. The second half of the film is completely different from the original. They added more action and one twist was completely changed (having to do with the friend) and I liked these changes. Since it was becoming different from the original, it added more suspense since I was curious with what they were going to do. Plus the chase scenes rocked and Amber Heard became more badass as the movie went on.
Some people might complain about the lack of gore/violence, but this film isn't about that. It is all about generating suspense and tension...and the film succeeded half the time. Half the time I was on the edge of my seat waiting to see Amber Heard get through her newest obstacle.
The film is no where near perfect though. Like the original, this film is equally flawed. My biggest issue would probably be that this film really is quite predictable. I saw every twist coming and I was never surprised by anything truly. This didn't help, because for half the film I was on the edge of my seat...but that was only for the ending. For the first big part of the film, I was just there and I was enjoying it...but I felt nothing. Then we had all the townspeople. They were there for only two reasons: to scowl and mug for the camera and to ignore our heroine. That is it. They were supposed to be obvious red herrings, but it wasn't needed since the twists were obvious anyway. This dumbed down the film quite a bit I will not lie. Karl Urban was completely wasted. He was good in the film, but his character brought nothing, and they should have done more with him because he is a great actor (hot too). It is a shame. I liked what they had for his character...if only they went farther.
In the end though, this is a predictable thriller that brings nothing new to the table, but I still had a good time.

VERDICT: 6/10