Barda

Rating: (1/10) Watching The original Barda (2007) was so frightening but, viewing the 24 remake felt like experiencing a treasured landmark being destroyed and replaced with a vacuous, tawdry imitation with no respect for the original's essence. This updated version attempts to exploit the gritty heritage of the initial movie, but results in a lifeless, tone-deaf exercise in pseudo-edginess and hollow provocation.

Let's begin with the most egregious problem: the villains. The original had older, hard-around-the-edges thugs from the neighborhood. They exuded real menace - their very presence alone was discomfiting, and you could practically smell the cigarette smoke and testosterone. This remake, however, makes them rich, soft-skinned university students who look more at home in a cologne advertisement than in a gritty crime thriller. They aren't scary, they are pretentious and condescending, about as threatening as a frat house initiation.

The screenplay takes the movie further into the realm of the absurd. Gone is the chidish but realistic profanity that felt grounded. Instead, it's overly styled, erotic monologues that seem like anything leftover from a bad HBO drama. Less "psychological horror," more "midnight soap opera with daddy issues.

What actually made the original Barda unpleasantrous was that it never romanticized violence. The camera lingered appallingly, but never lovingly. It respected the suffering. This photo, however, seems to be confused. Some of the scenes almost seem to stage the violence in pictorially self-indulgent style, downplaying the emotional value. One gruesome example of this is the moment when a victim happened to get their hands on a weapon and... did nothing. Just remained there. It's not character development. It's lazy writing, stripping the scene of any urgency or believability.

In the original, victims had weight-they resisted-they cracked-they fought back. The film doesn't get any scarier than that one unforgettable moment where the tide turns with a blunt weapon. It was powerful, shocking, but very much grounded in emotional realism. In this remake, one of the victims literally expresses disinterest in resisting. That's not depth-it's carelessness masquerading as nihilism.

Motivations? Nonexistent. We never learn why the antagonists do what they do, what drives their cruelty, or even why we're supposed to fear them. In the original, the slow buildup and calculated abductions gave us time to understand both predator and prey. Here, the characters are dumped into chaos with no context, and it feels more like a lazy improv sketch than a structured narrative.

Another baffling change is the lack of emotional buildup. The original film showed its characters before the descent into horror - there was joy, camaraderie, and a deep sense of tragic irony. In this remake, we meet cardboard cutouts we're supposed to care about, but never truly get to know. They're scenery, not people.

And the dialogue... oh, the dialogue. It's flip, meta, and tonally jarring. It yells, "We know this is a movie, isn't that awesome?" No. It's not. The original handled its subject matter with lethal gravity, and that's why it was so unforgettable. This remake more or less winks at the camera.

There is no tension, no real fear, and the worst of all - no soul. The original Barda was a blunt weapon of a film. This is a plastic toy trying to look dangerous under nightclub lighting.

Don't be fooled by the shiny cinematography or the dramatic music. This is not a remake. It's a parody with a straight face, written by people who neither understood nor respected what Barda stood for.

Avoid at all costs. Watch the original again instead.

"Barda" (2024) is a production that attempts to turn classical cinematic narratives on their head, only to disturb the audience, but fails to ground this disturbance in anything meaningful. The film presents a world where evil prevails and the scales of justice are tipped - but it does so not through in-depth analysis or character analysis, but through emotional manipulation for the sake of shocking the audience.

In a fictional sense, the film is at times disjointed, and the characters are merely the bearers of events; it is difficult to understand who they are and why they behave the way they do. Instead of increasing the impact of the violence or despair, this leaves the viewer on the surface. In the end, what I was left with after the movie was not a meaningful interrogation, but a frustrating sense of emptiness.

Yes, real life is not always fair and cinema can show that. But cinema should also tell us why we feel this injustice. Barda (2024) fails to do this. We are left with a movie that just says "this is life" and washes its hands of it.

Barda 2 is an incredibly disappointing and poorly crafted film. While it attempts to tackle sensitive and serious topics like assault, it does so in a way that feels exploitative rather than thoughtful. There's no real insight, meaningful commentary, or resolution to justify its approach, leaving the audience feeling uncomfortable for all the wrong reasons. Instead of sparking important conversations, the movie seems to rely solely on shock value, which comes across as lazy and tasteless.

The storyline is painfully weak, with no depth or nuance. The characters are one-dimensional and lack any real development, making it impossible to connect with their experiences. The dialogue feels forced and unnatural, failing to convey any genuine emotion or purpose. It's as if the filmmakers had no clear vision beyond creating something sensationalist.

From a technical perspective, the movie also struggles. The pacing is inconsistent, and the direction lacks cohesion, leaving scenes feeling disjointed and chaotic. Even the cinematography, which could have been used to heighten the emotional weight of the story, feels uninspired and generic.

Overall, "Barda 2" feels like a wasted opportunity to handle an important topic with the sensitivity and depth it deserves. It's hard to comprehend how anyone could give this film a perfect 10/10 rating-it suggests either a complete disregard for quality storytelling or an inability to critically assess a film. This is not a movie I can recommend, and I would advise others to steer clear unless they're prepared to be thoroughly disappointed.