Not much to say here, but if you look up films that should never be remade in the dictionary (subsection Asian Cinema) you will see the following three entries: Oldboy, Battle Royale and The Killer. Director John H. Lee as the unenviable task of changing the setting to Los Angeles' Korea Town from Hong Kong and incurring the wrath of fans of the original unless he orders up something to the level of The Departed (which may happen yet still incur the wrath). Production is being handled by John Woo and Terrance Chang's Lion Rock Productions. That is all.
Up to the level of The Departed?
Hmm, well, speaking as former rabid Scorsese fan, I can say that I thought Departed wildly overrated. Especially so when compared to the tighter Infernal Affairs.
Departed to me seemed like DePalma trying to be Scorsese.
But remakes are never very good anyway are they?
I can't think of any that worked very well and this will only fail I'm sure.
THE DEPARTED was far from perfect, but as remakes go, it is one of the better films. Still prefer I.A. but Scorcese gave his particular brand of local colour to his remake which made for some good cinema.
Actually, may sound like blasphemy, but I think Gore Verbinski's version of RINGU has many elements that are superior to the original (which I saw first). The Climactic scene with the TV was not as good, but many others (and some pacing issues) were far superior (particularly the added bit with the horse on the ferry).
I don't see the characters' relationships transferring to a US film. It would be great if it works out but I have strong doubts.
Well--at least it's John H. Lee and not his brother Roy.
About 10 years ago, a remake was in the pipeline with Walter Hill directing and Richard Gere to star. Hill's script is bouncing around the internet still I think.
Some remakes are okay. I liked the DAWN OF THE DEAD and HILLS HAVE EYES remakes. THE KILLER might be okay, but there are some movies that honestly can't be remade, and I think OLDBOY is a good example.
Ick. THE KILLER comes from a very specific time and place. That time is nearly twenty years ago and that place is pre-handover Hong Kong. Also, its author is by necessity John Woo. The story itself isn't all that special; it's how Woo handles it, in his gloriously hammy, ham-fisted way. Any remake could only be attempting to emulate something that was very peculiar and doesn't fit into the current cultural landscape either in Hong Kong or the US. John Woo himself couldn't make this film today.
Wan't this already remade and called The Replacement Killers?
No but Donnie Yen's Ballestic Kiss was okay. Just added the hand-to-hand combat. Speaking of BK a new restored copy would be sweet. But John D. Moore summed it up excellently.