Astonishingly, Michael Haneke’s 2007 “Funny Games” is a shot-by-shot, line-by-line remake, essentially a replica, of his earlier (1997) German-language “Funny Games,” and it retains the earlier film’s nihilistic sensibility. Here we see a comfortably middle-class family, seemingly protected from outside peril by a high gate. Early on they are importuned by a pair of doofus preppies, who morph into terrifying sadists, holding the family hostage and torturing its members with their “funny games.” We’ve been here before. A respectable and loving family is threatened by barbarian outsiders (see, for example, William Wyler’s “The Desperate Hours”). The rhythms of comfortable domesticity are brutally disrupted, the fabric of middle-class family life sundered, civilization assaulted. And then, through the efforts of the aroused father, the resourceful mother, the plucky child, evil is vanquished and order restored. This is the expectation that we bring to this film and that Haneke wields like a bludgeon. One admires Michael Haneke’s considerable talents and his formidable command of all the cinematic arts. And yet this is a difficult film. Like his young Leopold-and-Loeb protagonists, Haneke plays cruel games. He subjects us to the considerable discomfort of viewing unchecked, unpunished evil, then accuses us of being co-conspirators in an anarchic, helter-skelter world. Included in his indictment is (or are) the modern, violence-conveying mass media. At one point the power of the media is suggested by the clever use of a remote control to reverse and revise the narrative. Oliver Stone had great fun with the media/violence connection in “Natural Born Killers,” another savage and unsettling film, but perhaps a more watchable film by virtue of its clever satire. This is a worthy film, certainly a must-see film for Haneke enthusiasts. But brace yourself!

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Funny Games has one of the greatest trailers I have ever seen-- no wonder I was slightly disappointed by the real thing. Haneke's thriller is not a bad film, it's just not good enough to have a twin. It's really quite strange that he directed a shot-for-shot remake of his own film only 10 years after its release. Strange and egotistical. Funny Games is definitely scary and thought-provoking, but it is also packed with so many plot holes that it's difficult to move on and enjoy the film. If you are not too distracted, the movie is effective, but you may be better off waiting until 2017 when Haneke gives it a third go.

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