9 Remakes Critics Say Improved on the Original

Remakes get a rough reputation, and often that’s fair. A familiar title is a safe bet for a studio, and the results can feel like a photocopy of something better.

Still, a handful of them have won over reviewers, awards voters and later generations of film writers. Here are nine that many critics place above the films they came from, along with the reasons why.

The Departed (2006)

Martin Scorsese’s crime thriller reworked the Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs from 2002. It moved the story to Boston, built around the Irish American mob and the state police. The script by William Monahan won the Oscar for adapted screenplay.

The film also took Best Picture and Best Director at the Academy Awards, which gave Scorsese his first win as director. Critics often point to its larger ensemble and its meaner sense of humor. The original is admired, yet many reviewers see the remake as the richer and more layered of the two.

The Thing (1982)

John Carpenter’s film remade The Thing from Another World, a 1951 science fiction picture. Carpenter went back toward the John W. Campbell novella Who Goes There?, which centers on a shape shifting creature that copies its victims. That choice made the paranoia among the isolated Antarctic crew the real engine of the story.

Reviews were harsh when it opened. Over the following decades, critics reversed course and now routinely rank it among the best horror films ever made. Rob Bottin’s practical creature effects are still cited as a high point of the craft.

The Fly (1986)

David Cronenberg took the 1958 monster movie and turned it into a tragic study of a body falling apart. Jeff Goldblum plays a scientist whose teleportation experiment goes wrong, and Geena Davis plays the journalist who watches it happen. The horror is personal rather than pulpy.

Critics praised the performances and the way the film treats illness and decay. It won the Academy Award for makeup, a recognition of its inventive effects work. The 1958 version has its fans, but Cronenberg’s is usually the one held up as the more emotionally serious film.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)

Philip Kaufman’s version updated Don Siegel’s 1956 classic, and it moved the action to San Francisco. Donald Sutherland leads a cast that also includes Brooke Adams and Jeff Goldblum. The setting of a modern city full of strangers gives the alien takeover a colder, more isolating feel.

Many critics consider it one of the rare remakes that stands equal to its source, and some rank it higher. The ending in particular is remembered as bleaker and more unsettling than the earlier film’s. It shows how the same premise can suit a different era’s fears.

Ben-Hur (1959)

William Wyler’s epic followed a silent version from 1925 starring Ramon Novarro. Charlton Heston headlined the newer film, which is best known for its long chariot race. The production was enormous in scale, even by Hollywood standards.

The film won eleven Academy Awards, a record it still shares with a small number of other films. Critics of the time and film historians since have treated it as the definitive screen telling of the Lew Wallace novel. The silent original is respected as a landmark, though the 1959 film is the one people remember.

A Star Is Born (2018)

Bradley Cooper’s directing debut was the fourth major film version of a story first told in 1937. Cooper stars opposite Lady Gaga, who plays a rising singer paired with a fading musician. The earlier versions followed Hollywood and then the music business of their own eras.

Reviewers were warm about the performances and the live feel of the concert scenes. The song Shallow won the Oscar for Best Original Song. Whether it beats every earlier version is debated, but plenty of critics named it the strongest of the bunch.

Ocean’s Eleven (2001)

Steven Soderbergh’s heist comedy remade a 1960 film built around Frank Sinatra and his Rat Pack friends. George Clooney and Brad Pitt lead a large cast planning to rob several Las Vegas casinos. The new version is quicker, funnier and more carefully plotted.

Critics tended to describe the original as a loose hangout movie with a heist attached. Soderbergh’s film reversed that balance, and it was successful enough to launch two sequels. It’s often mentioned as a model for how to modernize a star driven caper.

True Grit (2010)

Joel and Ethan Coen adapted Charles Portis’s novel rather than simply redoing the 1969 John Wayne film. Hailee Steinfeld plays Mattie Ross, a teenager who hires a rough marshal, played by Jeff Bridges, to hunt her father’s killer. The Coens kept the book’s dry humor and formal dialogue.

The film earned ten Academy Award nominations, though it didn’t win any. Many critics felt it captured the tone of the novel more faithfully than the earlier version. Wayne won his only Oscar for the 1969 film, so the comparison remains a matter of taste, but reviewers leaned toward the Coens.

The Maltese Falcon (1941)

John Huston’s directing debut was actually the third film made from Dashiell Hammett’s novel, following a 1931 version and a 1936 comedic take. Humphrey Bogart plays private detective Sam Spade, and his performance defined the screen image of the hard boiled investigator. Huston stayed close to the book, which gave the film its tight, talky rhythm.

The earlier adaptations are now largely forgotten by general audiences. Critics and film historians regularly cite the 1941 film as a foundation of film noir. Its reputation as the definitive version has held for decades.