Typically if someone told me that two of their favorite movies were Death Race 2000 and The Long Good Friday, I’d flip the jive hand, yell ‘right on, brother!’ and then buy them a shot of Crown. When the person elaborated that they’d ideally profess admiration for those two movies by remaking them, I’d probably momentarily consider a glassing with said whiskey. The result would be perhaps just a splashing. I’m just a pussy in real life, but I talk a big game.
Not that I’m advocating fan-on-filmmaker violence at all. I cannot abide another Pasolini.
And really, I’m officially done being anticipatorily negative about the films of Paul W.S. Anderson. Conceptually, there’s nothing wrong with a remake. Some of my best friends are remakes. Death Race, you’ve now got the same free pass as everyone else, at least until my ass is in a theater seat.
And The Long Good Friday…I still don’t see the reason for getting into it, but Anderson does, and I can live with that. Even if he seems to feel it’s a decision that needs defending, as implied by some of the stuff recently said to Empire Online.
"…And the story is a great story with a great twist in it. And it’s pretty remarkable that your lead character is a gangster and you really root for him. I think it’s a great movie for a remake, because outside of the UK it’s virtually unknown and it was very much a movie of its time."
Furthermore, "But the structure will be exactly the same, but instead of the grimy east end bathhouse it’ll be the super sleek pool at the Delano hotel."
Ok, actually, I don’t actually understand any of that. I’m not even sure it was English. But I’m not going to hate, I’m just going to wait.