The Six Shooter: What Not To Remake
Welcome back to The Six Shooter! This month I’m going to take on a popular trend in the movie making industry. Some love it, some hate it, sometimes its good, more often than not it is awful. I’m talking about the remake or reboot whichever you prefer. Now I’m not gonna say in any way that all remakes are bad. As a matter of fact the horror genre usually does pretty good job with it. But most action remakes fail in comparison to the originals. I’m not here to list my least favorite of all action remakes, that would take a while. I am however going to list 6 action movie franchises that I hope never get to rebooted. Well let’s do this…
6. Lethal Weapon, (1987)
Lethal Weapon is a film that has remake written all over it. It was very successful and produced multiple sequels that, if I recall, were all pretty entertaining. In 2011, Warner Brothers announced that they were planing on a reboot of the buddy cop series without Gibson and Glover. Now I know it would be silly to ask for another sequel to this franchise but I’d rather that then watch them change a ton and try to find two guys fill those iconic spots. (Editor’s Note: FOX recently announced a Lethal Weapon TV series with Clayne Crawford in the Martin Riggs role and Damon Wayons in the Roger Murtaugh role.)
5. Escape from New York (1981)
I’m a big fan of Escape from New York! Every part of it is enjoyable to me and apparently I’m not the only one. Word is Snake Plissken is Kurt Russell’s favorite character he has ever played. Kurt is still in good shape but doesn’t do a lot of work these days. But it would be awesome to see Kurt play an older Snake in one more Escape movie, maybe Escape from Earth? I think its safe to say that this one is safe from a remake. Fingers crossed for a continuation.
4. Rumble in the Bronx (1995)
Rumble in the Bronx is the first film that really introduced me to the greatness of Jackie Chan. I still remember seeing the trailer playing on my TV as a young’n and that feelign that I had to see it as soon as I could. And when I did… I loved it and I still watch it from time to time. I don’t think this film will be rebooted, because let’s me honest who could step into Jackie’s shoes. But if he chose a successor i could probably get behind it. However Jackie is one of a kind. Which will continue as this article moves forward.
3. Bloodsport (1988)
This one is a completely selfish pick. I’ve made it know in past editions of The Six Shooter that Bloodsport is one of my all time favorite films. So I’ll make this fast. Can you imagine seeing a tournament montage with no Jean-Claude Van Damme or Bolo Yeung and a funky fresh version of “Fight to Survive” playing in the background? No thank you.
2. Die Hard (1988)
Well, have you seen Die Hard? There are so many stand out moments in that film that I would hate to see some studio try to recreate it or even worse leave those moments out in an ill advised remake. I really don’t think I need to say anymore about it.
1. Enter the Dragon (1973)
Please Shannon Lee… never let this happen! You have done a great job keeping your father’s name relevant as you should. Bruce Lee’s impact was and is world changing. He changed the way movies were made and opened up a door to so very much. He broke barriers in entertainment and made a huge impact in martial arts, philosophy all while destroying racial divides. So I ask you who could fill his spot? No one that’s who. Sure there are a lot of great martial artists and actors in the world, but Bruce was one of a kind and I really doubt someone could take on one of his characters with the same passion that he did. Sure Jason Scott Lee did very well in Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story but that’s just not the same for some reason. Call me crazy if you like but that’s just the way I see it.
That is it for this edition of The Six Shooter. What remakes do you hope never happen? Let me know what they are in the comment section below or hit me up on social media if you’d like on Facebook or the Twitter at @PlanetWillams (yeah, I forgot the second “i” and I have yet to fix it) Ok, thanks for reading. Peace.
