An English-language remake of a popular foreign film is nothing new in Hollywood. Some of your favorite films are probably remakes of popular films. But that being said, there’s something about an English-language remake that rubs film fans the wrong way. And while we haven’t even seen a frame of footage, I would bet a lot of film fans will hear about a Joe Carnahan-directed “The Raid” remake starring Frank Grillo and rage-punch the closest wall.
Despite the expected cries of many cinephiles that worship at the altar of Gareth Evans’ incredible action films, there are many in the US that have either never given “The Raid” a proper shot because of the language barrier or just have flat-out never heard of it. Enter Carnahan, with his unique, kinetic action style, and Grillo, who is an underrated action star that most people recognize from his work in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
In a new interview with Collider, Carnahan updates the progress on his remake of “The Raid,” and reveals that it’s likely coming before everyone assumed.
The director said that his version of Evans’ classic action film is likely to begin pre-production in “a few weeks.” This is, without a doubt, the closest we’ve come to an English-language “The Raid” remake since the film had been in development for years. But that’s not all. Carnahan also described the premise of his version of the film.
“You meet Frank’s character having just rotated back from a really, really, brutal special forces operation,” said Carnahan. “He’s got soft tissue damage in his hands, and his rotator cuff is blown out, and they take fluid off his knees, and the doctors basically tell him, ‘Listen you’re at the razor’s edge of PTSD and you need three months of just nothing, some R&R, because you’re jacked up.’”
He continued, “And in that space, he gets the message that his brother, who he thought had been dead for four years, is actually alive and working for a very bad guy in Caracas, and in 18 hours they’re gonna kill his brother. These forces are gonna descend and murder the bad guy and murder the brother, so do you wanna go and get your brother, who you thought is dead? Do you want that opportunity? So that’s where we start.”
Obviously, no matter how skilled Carnahan and Grillo are, they both have an uphill battle trying to match the original in terms of action and thrills. Evans’ original film is basically a blueprint for a perfect modern action film, and has set the stage for many films to copy that style. But in terms of the remake, Carnahan says he wants to bring out the emotional aspect of the story, as well as the personal stakes.
READ MORE: Gareth Evans Shoots Down The Possibility Of ‘The Raid 3’: “It Didn’t Really Appeal To Me”
“I want the entire movie to feel like the knife fight between Adam Goldberg and the German in ‘Saving Private Ryan,’” revealed the director. “Everything. In every great action film, there’s always an emotional quotient that you’re dealing with… You have to have a sense of stakes.”
He added, “For all of the tremendous excess of those last two ‘Matrix’ films, which I enjoyed the hell out of, they never really got to the tension of just Keanu Reeves trying to answer a phone at the end of the first movie. There was great pathos, there was a great sense of, ‘Is he gonna make it?’ The spectacle I think outweighs the heart and soul of it, and that’s what you have to remember is you’ve gotta have that attached.”
There’s still no release date for the film, and the director is quick to say that there’s no guarantee that the film will actually get to be filmed, as the industry is so unpredictable. However, it appears that the odds are audiences will have a remake of “The Raid” to consume in the next year or so.
