Under different circumstances, Iâd say something like, âThey sure donât make movies like Papillon anymore.â 1973âs incredible prison-escape filmâstarring Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman, and directed by Patton and Planet of the Apesâ Franklin J. SchaffnerâPapillon is a thrilling, larger-than-life adventure that feels like an old-school Hollywood epic shot through the hardboiled lens of â70s American cinema. Filmed on location in Jamaica, Spain, and Hawaii, Papillon is sweepingly huge, sprawling beyond the edges of its massive 150 minutesâfitting for a movie about a man serving life in prison.
But they are still making movies like Papillonâsort of. A slavish but condensed remake with Charlie Hunnam and Rami Malek in the McQueen and Hoffman roles has been made by Danish director Michael Noer, and it illuminates both the power of the story itself andâperhaps inadvertentlyâthe brilliance of Schaffnerâs film. On its own, this new Papillon is a perfectly decent movie that tells a fascinating, suspenseful story with clarity and emotion. But in almost every aspect, itâs inferior to the 1973 version.
On its own, this new Papillon is a perfectly decent movie that tells a fascinating, suspenseful story with clarity and emotion. But in almost every aspect, itâs inferior to the 1973 version.
In 1931, a Parisian safecracker named Henri Charrière was given a life sentence for a murder he didnât commit and was sent to a penal colony in French Guiana, on the northeast coast of South America. It was an inhospitable place to spend the rest of his life, and the prison conditions were devastatingly inhumane. Charrière, nicknamed âPapillonâ from a butterfly tattoo on his chest, wrote about his imprisonment and escape in the books Papillon and Banco, and was a consultant on the 1973 movie just before his death. Critics have questioned the validity of some aspects of Charrièreâs account, but thereâs no denying the pure excitement of the story he told.
Hunnamâs portrayal of Papillon feels like itâs been updated to be both edgier and more realistic, a contradiction that flattens the character into blandness. While Hunnam at his best is not as milquetoast-y an actor as much of his filmography suggestsâ2017âs The Lost City of Z, also set in South America, is the most convincing evidence yet of his abilitiesâheâs no Steve McQueen. And McQueen was probably never better than he is in the first Papillon, particularly during Charrièreâs years in solitary confinement, when he loses his mind and starts eating bugs. Thereâs also the totally insane scene where McQueen and Hoffman wrestle an actual alligator (one with its mouth tied shut, but still, jesus, that scene is electric), and McQueen famously did his own cliff-jumping stunts. Hunnam, a bit too gym-buff and clear-eyed to be believed as someone who spent years subsisting on tiny bowls of prison broth, doesnât suggest that same type of bug-nuts commitment.
Mr. Robotâs Rami Malek, as fellow inmate Louis Dega, is the best element of the new Papillon. To his credit, he doesnât do a Dustin Hoffman impersonation, though the shadow of Hoffmanâs indelible performance is tough to escape. Malekâs somber interpretation robs the movie of its outlet for comic relief, though, and when things are dramatic, as in Malekâs final scene with Hunnam, it just doesnât have the same gravity.
Also missing from this new Papillon: the gorgeous cinematography of Fred J. Koenekamp, the outstanding music of Jerry Goldsmith, and the digressively epic sweep of the originalâs final third, which defies todayâs established conventions of a tidy three-act screenplay. Maybe itâs unfair to do a note-by-note comparison, but Noerâs Papillon doesnât bring anything new to this storyâand since that storyâs already been so wonderfully told, your best bet is to cue up McQueen and Hoffman on the biggest TV you can find.
