John Woo to produce a remake Sam Peckinpah's THE KILLER ELITE

hehe,sorry. had to

It doesn't make sense to me. A long time ago, films were remade because someone wanted to try a new twist on an old, good story. Now people are just remaking anything they thought was cool, regardless of WHY. The reason The Killer Elite is interesting is because it was DIRECTED by Peckinpah, nothing else. The novel it was based on is one that noone has heard of. The screenplay, while competently co-written by a great scribe of the 70's, Sterling Silliphant, is not notable. Like most of Peckinpah's films, it is the meditation on violence and manhood through Sam's particular style that made it worth seeing. And as for Harry's comments, most Peckinpah afficionados know this is one of his more interesting films. It is very much a reevaluation and reinterpretation of what he had been doing for a long time. But why remake a film unless the screenplay or story itself is one that demands to be told again? This certainly isn't one of them. It's like Van Sant's remake of Psycho. It's not that Van Sant isn't a good filmmaker, it's that Psycho isn't a very interesting story. It's HOW Hitch told it that makes it so great. "Auteur" films should never be remade, because they are missing the most important element, the original director. Remakes tend to only be good when it's something based on a famous book, play, or story, because EACH film version is an interpretation of something else. So they can stand alone. Whereas what we're going to see here is essentially a cheap knock-off.

. . . Only if they recast Jimmy Caan as the boss. Instant Legitimacy.

I always liked the idea of this movie, but thought it was a little too long and drawn out. As long as they use actors (ie not Steven Seagal or Jackie Chan) it could possibly be cool. I hope there isnt any wire work kung fu either. If it isn't a fantasy, or sci fi, those ROMEO IS BLEEDING type gravity defying fight scenes really suck.

WHAT IS THE POINT? Surely there are new ideas. Re: the Romeo Must Die scribe writing this: Much as I love SOME of Woo's work, MI:2 shows that without a good script he flounders like anyone else. IDEA'S make great movies!

I used to love Hong Kong action pictures until they started making them over here. All of a sudden, the stuff seemed to become formulaic and tired. Directors like John Woo appeared to be repeating themselves with impunity. Now they'll take "The Killer Elite" (which is a movie I like, though I don't have any illusions that it's one of Peckinpah's best efforts), and go through the motions once again. What a shock. Zzzzzzzzzzzzz......

That was some damn funny shit. AKA: pablo. Man. i haven't thought about that show in years.

Killer Elite was a cheesy piece of crap. The setup is interesting, but the last 40+ minutes are mind-numbingly bad. The ninja crap was awful as well. I hope they bring back Burt Young (Rocky's chubby NYC pal) for this film. Facially, he doesn't look too different and now he has extremely buff arms, so he would look more convincing fighting off an army of ninjas. ;)

I mean first "Rollerball" now this. What's next, "The Godfather"?

I hope John Woo puts him in a cameo part, just to remind us. A seriously underutilized actor.

For god sakes. Someone stop me from staring at the Harry animation to see the end. Aawquuhghghhhhh!!!! Anyway, The Killer Elite was not a good movie. I bet you a dozen Talkbackers are going to rent it tonight and snigger through the 70s 'cool'. It's not. The ninjas are Hawaii Five-O quality and except for Jimmy Caan and Duvall, it's not interesting. It's really more of a Bruckheimer oriented picture anyway.

John Woo has finally taken the last step in his metamorphosis into a total Hollywood sellout.

Remakes are fine. Perfect case - would anyone call Howard Hawks a "Hollywood Sellout"? Or Hitchcock? Just about every great filmmaker who has made many movies at all have made remakes, and it's totally okay. Hawks remade The Front Page, as His Girl Friday, and greatly improved the original. Remakes are okay - it's the type of films that often get remade that are bad. There's absolutely no need to remake The Wild Bunch, or Citizen Kane, or Casablanca - you're never going to get it as good, no matter who is involved. Even if you somehow get every little thing perfect, which is nearly impossible, as making good movies is very, very hard(just think about how the best directors ever have still made bad movies) - even if you get it all right, there's still that bit of "magic". An intangible quality that the classic films were just lucky enough to have. Combined with their perfection, this "magic" made them classics that can't be improved upon. No need to try and do it again. Just watch the original. But it's totally okay to remake films that had interesting ideas but didn't quite pull them off, or didn't pull them off at all. These are the kinds of films that should be remade - something that didn't live up to its concept. There's nothing wrong with that.

God was it bad, I feel asleep during it. John Woo doing it *might* make it better, but why the hell remake it in the first place? I know John Woo loves Peckinpah and stuff, and maybe he doesn't want to touch/remake any of Peckinpah's classics like "The Wild Bunch" or "The Getaway", but ....geez...er....god damn it!!! Doesn't John Woo have enough clout in Hollywood now to make (i.e. write/direct/total control) one of his own films?? How much longer do we have to wait?

I like John Woo like the next guy, but what about "King's Ransom" and "Tears Of the Sun"? Those have Woo written all over them! This is like saying because I idolize Robert Wise, that I'm going to pay homage to him by remaking "The Day The Earth Stood Still" or "The Set Up". Don't do it, John Woo! There are plenty of great scripts out there waiting to be directed by you! Bring in Simon Yam, Danny Lee , Chow Yun Fat, the John Woo stock company actors and give us a great film!

Of course,I'd hate to see anyone try to "remake" Classic Peckinpah(Ride the High Country,Wild Bunch,Straw Dogs)which was fully realised the first time,but to re-do a minor effort like Killer Elite,which the suits eviscerated from inception to completion,MIGHT be a nice homage to Bloody Sam.

Killer Elite at worst is a go nowhere action movie and at best story driven by characters. Duvall and Caan do a good job with mildly interesting characters, and the lack of resolution at the end is different, if nothing else, from the action thats around today. The only reason i would watch this movie more than once is to pick up some good one liners, much like why I watch and rewatch The Long kiss goodnight. I cant see Woo doing a character driven story, but who knows, remakes really have nothing to do with what they are based on(ie, Down to Earth). However, only the killer elite teams up Paulie, Rocky's drunken sidekick, and everyone's favorite writer Tom Clancy in some ninja ass kicking action. Certainly this odd duo has to count for somehting. And who is the guy in that movie who sounds like Zoidberg from Futurama? anybody?

Instead of remaking an old James Caan movie, this is a movie about one year in the life of Caan. 1974 to be exact. James Caan (Jake Busey) has sex with the new Playboy Playmate each month for eleven months. Then, he runs into Miss December (Denise Richards) who won't put out for him. Andrew McCarthy will play Hef. Hugh Grant will play Peter Bogdonavich. Jeremy Pevin will play James Toback and Mike Myers will play Paul Schrader.

I refuse to have any piece of software by Microslouch in my computer. Not to worry, though: sooner or later it will be found as a QuickTime at Movie List (www.movie-list.com). And I think this movie will suck anyway. John Woo is just a Peckinpah-wannabe. Now, if it was the Wachovski bros to make it, I'd be interested...

One of Peckinpah's best, Straw Dogs is still banned on video/DVD in the UK. The censors believe that the infamous rape scene give the impression that women enjoy rape.