The Ohio Sci-Fi and Horror Marathons

I get all of that Wolf, but they did a terrible job of establishing that and it didn't work. It's not like the original is a masterpiece of character development or anything, but it didn't bother trying to be either. This one was just sloppy in that department. It would've been one thing if they were trying to do a bait and switch with who the protagonist really is like Psycho did. And maybe that's what they tried to do but it was just sloppy. I'd rather films just not bother and just go on the roller coaster ride instead of trying to be "meaningful" and failing so badly at it. I mean if it was supposed to be Mia's story all the time, why didn't we actually see and suffer with her going through withdrawl. Like most character development in this film it was half-hearted and half-assed at best. If it was her story, then she's barely in it until the end. Overall I liked the film and if I'd never seen the original or was 13 and seeing this for the first time (like with the original) it would probably be a favorite of mine. Right now, I wish the film makers had either done more or no character development.

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"I came here to chew bubble gum and kick a**. I'm all out of bubble gum."

Well, we can argue all day about whether or not it worked. I agree that it is not a 100% perfect film. There are very few of those. For you it did not work, for me it did. When you say there are "3 different protagonists" I don't think that's true. I think there are other characters to whom the focus shifts at times, but they are not the protagonists. Yes, Mia does leave for a bit, but I think the film as a whole is still about her. I think we see plenty of her before she is possessed and she drives the story until that point. For me as a viewer, the film never stopped being about her even when she wasn't on screen. Just because a character is not on screen during a scene doesn't mean the film is no longer about them. It's not like Psycho where the protagonist obviously shifts from Marion Crane (who dies and doesn't come back) to Norman Bates. I don't think there was ever any bait and switch here. She was human, she was possessed, then she wasn't possessed.

We may have to agree to disagree on this. But also the reason we don't see her withdrawal is because it was interrupted by the whole demon-possession thing. Otherwise we probably would have seen that! But that would have been a very different movie about Mia, and probably a less interesting one.