Home Entertainment Deadpool 2 director David Leitch in early talks for Enter the Dragon remake

Deadpool 2 director David Leitch in early talks for Enter the Dragon remake

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It’s time to be a hypocrite. Unlike some, I’ve never been one to dismiss movie remakes just because they’re remakes. Contrary to what some may think, remakes are not a modern trend indicative of Hollywood’s creative bankruptcy as people have been remaking movies as long as they’ve been making movies. Being a remake is also not an immediate sign of quality or lack thereof. The Thing, The Departed, Magnificent Seven, Ocean’s Eleven, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Scarface, The Ring, Scent of a Woman, The Fly, etc etc. All remakes, all great films.

So yes, I’ve spoken out against the unfounded hatred that often gets thrown at remakes before anybody has even seen a single frame of them. But that’s not happening today, because now they’re trying to remake Bruce Lee’s Enter the Dragon. How dare they?!

Deadline brings the news, revealing that hotshot director David Leitch is in early talks to direct the planned remake with a writer to be announced soon. Leitch, along with frequent collaborator Chad Stahelski, had been stuntmen and 2nd-unit action directors on some of Hollywood’s biggest films like The Matrix and Captain America: Winter Soldier, before they broke out in a massive way by co-directing 2014 action masterpiece John Wick. While Stahelski stayed on to direct that film’s sequel by himself, Leitch decided to branch out, first with Atomic Blonde and most recently Deadpool 2. He’s currently got the Fast & Furious spinoff Hobbs and Shaw, starring Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham, lined up as his next project, so if this deal comes together he would only tackle Enter the Dragon after that at the earliest.

Leitch’s skills are undeniable, having proven his talent for choreographing and concisely shooting bone-crunching, cinematic action sequences multiple times, so in that regard this project is safe. The problem with remaking Enter the Dragon is a simple one though: No Bruce Lee.

Director Robert Clouse’s iconic 1973 original didn’t have the best story or characters: The film saw Lee as an acclaimed martial artist (creatively also named Lee) approached by British Intelligence to infiltrate a martial arts tournament being held on a private island by its owner Han, who is suspected of running a drug and prostitution trafficking ring. Lee has a personal reason to accept the mission as Han’s bodyguard is the man who killed his sister many years before and he wants revenge. Cue lots of super fast kicking and punching, in-fight mewling, Lalo Schifrin’s amazing music score, John Saxon and Jim Kelly trying to not look too hokey, a very brief appearance by a very young Jackie Chan, and the world’s introduction to Bolo Yeung. It was glorious!

The basic concept is one that has already been copied multiple times in pop culture (see: Mortal Kombat), but what made the original film stand out was the legendary Lee himself whose powerful physical skills and magnetic charisma elevated it to martial arts masterpiece status. Anybody can stomp on another man’s chest, but can anybody do it like Bruce Lee?

Hollywood definitely thinks so as this is not the first time an Enter the Dragon remake has been attempted. In 2009, Sons of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutter planned to make his feature film directing debut with a remake starring Korean pop star/actor Rain (Ninja Assassin) but it fell apart. So too Spike Lee and Brett Ratner both made attempts of their own, but never got things going. When compared to his predecessors, at least I can say that Leitch is definitely the most well-suited of the lot to attempt this.

But he really shouldn’t attempt this. This is a lose-lose situation as whoever gets cast, no matter how brilliantly they execute whatever incredible action scenes Leitch dreams up, will get endlessly compared to Bruce Lee. And how can you ever win against a legend like that?

Last Updated: July 24, 2018

22 Comments

  1. RinceThis

    July 24, 2018 at 09:24

    NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO This was not just a ‘movie’ it was Lee’s god damn soul! There must be a line, there must be! I suppose this one will look like John Wick? 2018, you SUCK so bad!

    Reply

  2. Original Heretic

    July 24, 2018 at 09:34

    Wow….just wow…. who do you get to play Lee’s part?!
    Is there actually an actor out there capable of pulling it off?

    Reply

    • RinceThis

      July 24, 2018 at 09:39

      Daniel Wu?

      Reply

      • Original Heretic

        July 24, 2018 at 09:48

        Not really all that familiar with his work. The guy from Into the Badlands, yeah? Damn, I really gotta try sit down and watch that.

        Reply

      • Original Heretic

        July 24, 2018 at 09:48

        Not really all that familiar with his work. The guy from Into the Badlands, yeah? Damn, I really gotta try sit down and watch that.

        Reply

      • Original Heretic

        July 24, 2018 at 09:48

        Not really all that familiar with his work. The guy from Into the Badlands, yeah? Damn, I really gotta try sit down and watch that.

        Reply

        • Guz

          July 24, 2018 at 10:03

          Ya not 100% sold on the plot but dammm the action sequences are amazing!

          Reply

        • RinceThis

          July 24, 2018 at 11:51

          It’s really good dude. Very genre specific, but loads of fun!

          Reply

          • Guz

            July 24, 2018 at 12:10

            I really dig the ‘costumes’

          • RinceThis

            July 24, 2018 at 12:17

            and the sets!

          • Original Heretic

            July 24, 2018 at 14:54

            I know, I know, I hear that from all sides.
            I remember watching the first episode and thinking “Wow, that’s cool, must watch more.” That was early last year sometime.

  3. For the Emperor!

    July 24, 2018 at 09:58

    Nobody will be able to replicate the speed of Bruce Lee in that fight against the bodyguard. You have to view it in slow motion to see his moves! Who today can move so fast?

    Reply

    • RinceThis

      July 24, 2018 at 10:00

      America’s reputation?

      Reply

    • Original Heretic

      July 24, 2018 at 10:08

      Dude, LEE had to slow down for his fight scenes! He was so fast in the first few takes that the director asked him to slow it down because the camera just couldn’t keep up.
      Man, would have been amazing to see just how fast he used to be with today super slo-mo cameras.

      Reply

  4. Tbone187

    July 25, 2018 at 14:34

    They can always use the old takes and paste it in 😉 Seriously tho, maybe they could do an animation? That would be seriously cool.

    I saw an abomination recently pushing the Bruce Lee angle.Birth of the Dragon. Awful!

    And I believe the British agent’s name was detective Braithwaite.

    Reply

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