The Raid is generally considered to be one of the best action movies of recent years. For that reason, it's not surprising that the film is being remade. However, the new version will be changing several things, including the location. The team of Joe Carnahan and Frank Grillo recently announced that they would be taking on the herculean task of reimagining The Raid. Now, Carnahan says that one of the things the new version will change is where the action takes place. While one might expect the story would move from Indonesia to someplace within the U.S. it turns out the plan is for someplace a bit more exotic. Venezuela.
[It's set in] Caracas. Because Caracas is a madhouse. It's almost like a safehouse for bad guys, like they built this block in Caracas because this is where you come to do business and no one will fuck with you. Because it's such a dangerous place, nobody wants to go in there. Again, it's heightening elements of The Raid that were already there, I'm taking these story elements and kind of weaponizing them. Just giving them a shot of steroids, because again everything is about zagging---where The Raid zigged, we'll zag.
The original story of The Raid follows a SWAT team's attempt to take down a crime lord in Jakarta, Indonesia. The bad guy owns an apartment block in which he rents rooms to other criminals. While the basic setup of the location sounds similar, it appears the plan is to amp up the insanity. A quick search online and one discovers that Caracas, Venezuela is one of the most violent cities in the world. Apparently, the plan is to take that real life fact and use it to elevate the situation for the new version of The Raid.
When Joe Carnahan was announced as the new writer and director of The Raid remake he made it clear that he wasn't simply looking to remake the movie. Based on his comments to Collider, we can begin to see exactly what he's talking about. In addition to the change of location the director says he wants this version of The Raid to be more viscerally violent as opposed to the heavily choreographed action we got in the original film and its sequel.
On the one hand, the idea of remaking The Raid at all seems sacrilegious to fans of the original. However, as Joe Carnahan and Frank Grillo point out, most people have never seen The Raid so it really doesn't matter. At the same time, changing up the film's entire tone will at least give them some freedom to make their own film. They won't need to worry about "matching" the original because they're not even going to try.
Are you excited for a Raid movie or is this the worst remake idea ever? Let us know what you think in the comments.
