Robert Rodriguez’s Troublemaker Studios will unveil its take on the 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger alien flick Predator on July 9th with Predators. With Fox behind that project, it comes as no surprise that they’re not ready to stop there.
Deadline Hollywood is reporting that the studio has hired David Ayer to not only write, but also direct a remake of Commando. If you’re not familiar with the title, Commando is the 1985 movie also starring Schwarzenegger about a special forces soldier whose daughter is kidnapped in an attempt to get him to kill a rival of the man who kidnapped her, ultimately leading him to kill every single man that gets in his way, as Arnie tended to do in the good ol’ days.
Ayer has more than enough experience in the realms of action movies, and he especially has experience with cop/soldier storylines. His writing resume includes U-571, The Fast and the Furious, Training Day, Dark Blue, S.W.A.T., and Harsh Times, and his directing experience includes Harsh Times and Street Kings…both of which were basically just Training Day.
Much like Predators, it’s expected that instead of casting someone as large as Arnie, a smaller, more relatable everyman who’s a highly-trained soldier is the planned image of the protagonist. Let’s just hope they at least don’t just sign Adrien Brody to make things easier on themselves. Ayer will also try to bring that realism that have been used in most of his other films.
Alright…why why WHY does Commando need to be remade at all? Not as though Arnold’s character in Commando was some timeless pop culture icon that can stand the test of time, survive reinterpretation, etc. It’s not even an exceptional story…just a good old 1980’s reason for Arnold to kick butt, kill people and ca$h in. What next? A remake of Raw Deal? Twins?! If anything, how about “The Running Man”? I understand that “Gamer” was in the same vain but Gamer sucked and The Running Man is approaching 25th anniversary. How about that one instead? Commando though? I don’t get it.
Comment by Paul — April 29, 2010 @ 8:40 am
thanks for ruining my day g.o.d.
Comment by Shaun — April 29, 2010 @ 9:15 am
The Running Man would make an excellent remake; a more realistic and even more brutal way to hunt down the runners would be nice.
Sadly though, Paul W. Anderson would most likely get the job.
Comment by phil — April 29, 2010 @ 9:41 am
Paul you are right?
Aside from Arnold in the film, Commando–which I have in my DVD rotation majority of the time–is your basic one-man army action film. And did they not remake this film recently, twice, with The Marine and The Marine 2?
Aren’t there countless DTV films basically like Commando.
Isn’t there are Russian remake of the same film? What is the point really?
Fox save the money for the Alien prequel I say.
Comment by Steve _Kasan — April 29, 2010 @ 1:05 pm