BOTTOM LINE: “Funny Games” has some interesting potential with its two antagonists and self-referential treatment, but the confrontational anti-violence themes get lost in a very ugly and mean-spirited execution of a story that will do nothing but leave a bad taste in your mouth.

THE GOOD: Director Michael Haneke has a dislike for violence and its role in the media, particularly in the media’s ability to sensationalise violence for its own ends. In directing “Funny Games”, a shot-by-shot remake of his own 1997 Austrian horror film, he attempts to confront you with how vicious and nasty real violence actually is. This is a film that makes you feel the brutality and ugliness of violence, particularly as nobody is spared. A young family on vacation at their holiday house are suddenly taken hostage by a pair of well spoken male psychopaths who proceed to torture and kill them through the use of sadistic games. In some ways, the realness of the violence in this film, the propensity to focus on the psychological aspects of it as opposed to outright blood and gore, and the number of self-referential nods to it demonstrate how disgusting the torture-porn genre which include movies such as “Saw” and “Hostel” really are in using this horror as an entertainment. Throughout the film, the two psychos nod and wink to the camera, as if actively asking you to participate in their fun, even asking us at one point to bet on who will be the victor between them and their victims. There is a nice demeaning banter between the two psychos that can at times be amusing and the two actors, Michael Pitt and Brady Corbet, do a very good job of portraying two deeply disturbed individuals who execute their brutality through a thick layer of politeness and supposed etiquette. Naomi Watts puts in an excellent performance as Ann, adding a layer of depth that might have otherwise been absent. “Funny Games” has the potential to be a unique take on violence in the media.

THE BAD: The experience of watching this film vacillates between total disgust and boredom. The film is disgusting in its mental and physical torture that it portrays, and it is boring in every other aspect for its slow direction and lacklustre visuals, not to mention some extremely long-winded shots, one of which lasts for ten minutes with action that could have been wrapped up quicker. I guess the idea is to make it as real as possible, but then this is a film and artistic licence is always a given. The film plays with genre conventions by setting up the possibility of escape and then turns them on their head; not necessarily a bad thing, but when for example the son is the first one brutally shot, or George (Tim Roth) is gauged off screen with a kitchen knife before being shot in front of Ann, and the absolutely ridiculous scene of one of the psychos using a remote control to literally rewind the action to get the upper hand after something goes wrong for them, the film does nothing except turn you against it. There may be an anti-violence lesson in here, but the ugly, mean-spirited and uninspired direction of this film will do everything to sabotage that lesson and its ability to teach you anything about the brutality of what you are seeing.