Director Patrick Hughes, best known for the likes of such action movie fare as The Expendables 3, The Hitman’s Bodyguard, and the sequel Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard, will soon drop the laughs inherent in the Ryan Reynolds outings for something far more serious with next week’s War Machine, led by Reacher star and the action icon of the hour, Alan Ritchson. But War Machine is far from the first time Hughes has endeavored to make something serious. In an exclusive interview with MovieWeb, the filmmaker offered a long-awaited update on what he calls a “reimagining” of the modern action thriller masterpiece, The Raid.
Released back in 2011, The Raid hails from Indonesia and has had a profound impact on the action movie world ever since audiences first laid eyes on the wildly kinetic, brutally violent, expertly choreographed martial arts thriller. Directed by Gareth Evans, The Raid introduced the somehow still hugely underrated Iko Uwais to the masses, following a rookie member of an elite team of commandos as he and his team infiltrate a high-rise building run by a brutal crime lord.
Cementing itself as one of the greatest action thrillers ever made, and sparking an on-par sequel, talk of an English-language remake began when the original was released. While nothing has come of such talks since, Patrick Hughes has now revealed exclusively to MovieWeb that the project is in the works at 
Netflix and would be a “reimagining” rather than a remake. However, he currently isn’t “sure what the future” holds.
“Look, I’m a huge fan of the film, obviously, and I worked on a script for Netflix that we worked on…so I’m not sure what the future is for that project. It’s certainly something that is potentially out there, but we sort of looked at a reimagining of that and set it in a different sort of setting and location. And it’s 100% not a remake. It was just taking the heart and soul of it and saying, “Well, what would this look like on a grander sort of Canvas?” And, you know, I’m just a big fan of real-world stunts in real-world locations. And, you know, that’s ultimately what we did with War Machine.”
Prior insights into Hughes and Netflix’s reimagining have revealed that the project would once again focus on the relationship between two brothers on different sides of the law, much like the original does with Rama (Iko Uwais) and Andi (Donny Alamsyah). Reports have also claimed that the movie would be called Zeno rather than The Raid, referencing the names of one of the brothers, with Frank Grillo (Tulsa King) and Taylor Kitsch (The Terminal List) being eyed to play the warring siblings.
While we wait to see whether Netflix can create a reimagining of The Raid worthy of its predecessor (and whether The Raid 3 will ever happen), Patrick Hughes will first slam Alan Ritchson into a mysterious metallic enemy in War Machine, which is due to debut on Netflix on March 6.
- Release Date
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March 23, 2012
- Runtime
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101 minutes
- Director
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Gareth Evans