It’s been a couple of years since we last heard word about theThe Raidremake, but according to directorJoe Carnahan, it may finally be happening soon. Carnahan sat down with Collider’s own Steve Weintraub recently to talk about the upcoming filmEl Chicano, which he co-wrote and produced, and theSmokin’ Acesfilmmaker revealed that he’ll hopefully be starting prep onThe Raidin the next few weeks.
The film is based on directorGareth Evans’ 2011 Indonesian action thriller of the same name, withFrank Grilloset in the starring role. As for how Carnahan’s version will differ, he described to Collider the opening of the film, and how it sets up the fact that Grillo’s character is already in rough shapebeforethe titular raid begins:
“You meet Frank’s character having just rotated back from a really, really, brutal special forces operation. 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.’ 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.”
As for how he could possibly top the action in Evans’ film, which boasts some insane fight choreography, Carnahan said he aims to infuse each action sequence in hisThe Raidremake with an intense level of emotion:
“I want the entire movie to feel like the knife fight between Adam Goldberg and the German inSaving Private Ryan. 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. For all of the tremendous excess of those last twoMatrixfilms, 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.”
It’s still unclear when, exactly, Carnahan’sThe Raidremake will happen, but with him noting that pre could be underway in the next couple of weeks, we could be hearing some big news about the project soon.
Look for our full interview with Carnahan on Collider next week.
