According to a series of tweets today, it looks like director Joe Carnahan (The Grey, A-Team) and actor Frank Grillo (The Purge, Captain America) are working on their own version of The Raid.
???? BIG NEWS WEDNESDAY???? #TheRaid@carnojoe#FrankGrillopic.twitter.com/ALhgZWgafq
— XYZ Films (@XYZFilms) February 15, 2017
THE RAID remake will hew closer in tone & feel to THE GREY and NARC.@Ghuevans is producing alongside & has given us his full blessing.
— Joe Carnahan (@carnojoe) February 15, 2017
We’re just as neck-deep in skepticism as you are. Tweets like the above are all we really have to go on for now. Carnahan’s visual style isn’t even remotely similar to original director Gareth Evans’, and Grillo is best-known for both his Purge role and his minor turns battling Captain America, so … fan reception to this news is obviously already pretty rocky. Can Grillo pull off any of Iko Uwais’ incredible stunts? If not, perhaps that (and looking at Carnahan’s previous directing work) suggests the much different direction the remake will likely head in.
Look, we want this movie to be good. Who wouldn’t love a third, great The Raid movie to enjoy alongside the other two? Sure, it’s not that encouraging to see the director mistakenly tag a fan account of Gareth Evans in a tweet citing his apparent support … or to, you know, remember that he also directed Smokin’ Aces, but there’s not much we can do about that, can we?
For what it’s worth, Carnahan is trying his best to assuage fans’ fears:
You can’t remake The Raid, guys. It’s a fantastic film. So, ask yourselves why would we be doing it, unless we had something really special.
— Joe Carnahan (@carnojoe) February 15, 2017
The director also said today that more information on his version of The Raid will come out soon, so it surely won’t be long until we get a better idea of what type of movie this will be. Be sure to check back with Paste as more details are revealed in the coming days.