Remo who? You might be too young to remember, but in 1985 a lot effort was put into launching "Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins" starring Fred Ward (and how come that guy isn’t in more movies?). Anyway, as you might have surmised from the title, it was viewed as a franchise vehicle, but the movie wasn’t very good, flopped, and everyone promptly forgot who Remo Williams was (though the movie did earn a Golden Globe nomination for co-star Joel Grey, and a Best Makeup Oscar nod as well). Well, three decades have past, and now it’s time to try to make this action hero viable on the big screen.
And that job will fall to Shane Black ("Lethal Weapon," "Iron Man 3") who has been tasked with directing "The Destroyer." The name comes from the original series of books that spawned Remo Williams, a Newark cop who is framed, sentenced to death, then resurrected following a botched execution. The reason? To serve as enforcement arm for CURE, a top-secret, extra-Constitutional arm of the U.S. government. Along with a seemingly ageless – and often hilarious – Asian assassin known only as Chiun, Williams sets out to "clean up" and take out those who oppose America’s interests. The surprisingly-heartfelt stories combine edgy old-school suspense with Eastern mysticism to produce unique, rapid-fire capers full of slick banter, social satire, and sudden violence.
Jim Uhls and James Mullaney will write the script, which will hopefully avoid the potentially racist pitfalls of the sidekick character and the whole "Eastern mysticism" thing (geez) and give Black something that sounds like the buddy movie stuff that’s his bread and butter. And until we know more, here’s the entire 1985 movie "Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins" directed by Guy Hamilton ("Diamonds Are Forever," "Live And Let Die," "The Man With The Golden Gun").
