Joe Carnahan's The Raid remake may get political

Writer-director Joe Carnahan may have presented himself with his biggest challenge yet after announcing plans to remake 2011 action masterpiece ‘The Raid.’

While not the biggest commercial success, the Indonesian martial arts epic from Welsh director Gareth Evans (released as ‘The Raid: Redemption’ in the US) sent shockwaves through film fandom, quickly – and correctly – attaining the status of a modern classic. Perhaps inevitably, a US remake was on the cards right away, but it seemed to have fallen through the cracks until the recent, unexpected news of Carnahan’s attachment to the project, alongside actor Frank Grillo.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Carnahan (whose directorial credits include ‘The A-Team’ and ‘The Grey’) makes it clear that he appreciates the magnitude of the task before him, and drops some hints as to how his take on the concept will stand apart from the original – and, again perhaps inevitably, it seems the current political climate will make its presence felt.

The original centres on a police raid on a tower block dominated by criminals, but it gradually comes to light that the divisions between the good guys and bad guys aren’t as clear-cut as they seem, and Carnahan sees contemporary resonances in this theme.

Stressing that he only agreed to take the helm on the remake after getting Gareth Evans’ blessing (“I wouldn’t want to start tracking mud all over something he originated”), Carnahan explains, “No one, least of all myself or Frank, would be interested in doing a frame-by-frame remake of ‘The Raid.’ It’s stupid.

“And with what’s going on in the world right now, there’s other opportunities to take that story and to expand certain portions of it and make it more metaphorical and allegorical and play with notions about where we are today.

“When I think of honor and valor and nobility, none of that stuff lines up with someone like Donald Trump. If I was special forces and I had a bozo like that calling the shots, I’d have a major crisis of conscience.

“I don’t want to jam an ideology down someone’s throat, but there are very interesting things you can explore with what we’re dealing with right now in the world. In times of turmoil like this, it’s always had a wonderfully propulsive effect on art. It’s always churned things out that become a social commentary.”

Beyond this, Carnahan says he plans to “make it credible and grounded so that you have this sense that these scenarios could actually transpire.” Although I expect fans would argue the existing film has already done a pretty good job of that.

‘The Raid’ spawned a sequel in 2014, and its stars Iko Uwais and Yayan Ruhian reached a considerably larger audience via their brief cameo in ‘Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens.’ A third film is said to be on the cards.

Just when Carnahan plans to shoot his remake is unknown, but the filmmaker seems very busy at present, being lined up to direct ‘Bad Boys For Life.’ He has also penned the screenplay for video game adaptation ‘Uncharted,’ and just this week was announced as the screenwriter for 20th Century Fox’s ‘X-Men’ spin-off ‘X-Force.’

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