This remake of Sam Peckinpah's notorious 1971 thriller Straw Dogs transports the action from rural England to a backwater town in Mississippi, but sticks closely to the basic plot structure of the original, even emulating much of the dialogue. Even so, director Rod Lurie's retelling fails to come anywhere close to Peckinpah's film in terms of simmering tension, shocking rawness and unflinching brutality.

The ways that this new film differs from the original might be small, but they have a huge negative impact on the film as a whole. Whereas both Dustin Hoffman and Del Henney in Peckinpah's film felt completely authentic, the two male leads in Lurie's remake-James Marsden and Alexander Skarsgård-are typical Hollywood hunks, clearly cast for their dashing good looks and bulging pecs. In contrast, the one character that is supposed to ooze sex appeal, David's wife Amy, is played by Kate Bosworth, who is nowhere near as hot as Susan George. And where the original film caused much controversy due to its graphic rape scene and savage violence, this one fails to raise eyebrows, the sexual assault wimping out on the nudity, the killings no more explicit than its forty year old predecessor.

Plausibility is stretched to breaking point when Tom Heddon, played by James Woods, deliberately shoots the sheriff (as opposed to the accidental shooting in the original) and the good 'ol boys use their truck to break into the house (the wreck being rather incriminating evidence, methinks!).

3.5/10, rounded down to 3 for insulting the viewer's intelligence by explaining the enigmatic title, as though the curious are unable to Google the meaning themselves.

Most modern remakes carry with them a whiff of disappointment, a general feeling of déjà vu and a sense that watching is time wasted because they're invariably going to be worse than the original (apart from in a few instances). The same can well be said of STRAW DOGS, a film that relocates Sam Peckinpah's controversial classic in the southern USA but otherwise tells exactly the same story, with the same sequences and even the same dialogue beats.

Put simply, STRAW DOGS is a fine enough film in itself and would be more impressive if the original didn't exist. Compared to the original, it comes second in every way; the cast is a lot worse, the direction is non-existent compared to Peckinpah's masterful stylistics, and the power is just lacking. Fans of the original would do better to stick with that because there's no way this film has a hope of coming close to it.

Taken as a standalone movie, though, and compared to other modern thrillers, it turns out to be…well, not bad. The slow-building plot is as effective as ever, and the climax doesn't disappointment when it arrives and unleashes a wave of violence upon the screen. James Marsden struggles because you can't help but compare him to Dustin Hoffman in the role, and Kate Bosworth doesn't really capture that level of coquettishness that the Susan George character had, either.

But the supporting players are better, and Alexander Skarsgard is particularly sinister as the bad guy who doesn't really do anything all that bad – although we hate him anyway. James Woods ignites the screen, as ever, and Dominic Purcell offers a completely different performance to David Warner's, so his role is all the better for it.

So what we have here is a film that can be taken in two different ways. As a remake, it's a pale effort compared to the vibrant original. As a standalone movie, it's a pretty tense thriller with a gripping storyline. I liked it enough the first time around, but is it worth a rewatch? Not like the original.

Screenwriter David Sumner (James Marsden) relocates with his wife Amy (Kate Bosworth) to her homeland Blackwater, Mississippi. David is working on a screenplay about Stalingrad. They hire Charlie (Alexander Skarsgård),Amy's high school sweetheart, to repair the barn roof. Charlie invites David out on a deer hunt. But when they lose David in the woods, they doubleback to the house to rape Amy.

James Marsden is terribly miscast as the nerdy David. In the '71 original, it was much more effectively played by Dustin Hoffman. David should be more like an AV nerd than the quarterback. Kate Bosworth is too pushy and lack chemistry with James Marsden. James Woods who plays coach Tom Heddon is just too cartoony. It's a badly conceived remake.