I was a fan of John Singleton’s ludicrous revenge film Four Brothers, and I have to give him respect for producing Hustle & Flow, but I do have to draw the line somewhere, and that line is drawn where it comes to a movie that might require an actually technically proficient director. The movie, in this case, is Without Remorse, the Tom Clancy thriller that spun off from the Jack Ryan books.
Singleton has signed on to direct the adaptation, which has been in the works for something like a decade. At one point Liev Schreiber was supposed to reprise his role as John Clark from Sum of All Fears (Without Remorse is John Clark’s secret origin), but I don’t know if the guy feels he’s outgrown that, or if maybe he feels he can’t work with a director who’s not as good as he is. To be fair to Singleton, and if I remember the book right (I read it while Clinton was president), Without Remorse is more than a touch Death Wish-y, so maybe it does fall within the director’s limited skill set.
Singleton was previously announced to be attached to Convoy, which I believe is an Iraq War film. That’s still happening, but after Without Remorse. I guess this puts the Luke Cage movie somewhere deep in Development Hell.