Joe Carnahan Still Plans to Make ‘The Raid’ Remake — and Thinks It’ll Be “Better Than the Original”

Joe Carnahan has “The RIP” out right now on Netflix. The reviews aren’t too bad—82% on RT and a 66 on MC. What did our readers think of the film?

As I wrote yesterday, Carnahan hasn’t topped his 2002 breakout “Narc,” which remains the best thing he’s done—raw, intense, and stylish in all the right ways. Everything since has lived in its shadow. He has leaned hard into pulpy, high-octane genre fare. His other notable directing credits include “The Grey,” “Smokin’ Aces,” “Copshop,” “Stretch,” “Boss Level,” and “The A-Team.”

It’s hard to believe, but in 2017 Carnahan was set to remake “The Raid” with his actor/muse Frank Grillo. While that film has stalled, Carnahan is now telling The Playlist that he’s still working on it, won’t use the ‘Raid’ IP due to creative disputes with the producers, and that, yes, it will be better than the original.

“I wrote on spec with the idea that if we did it—I wanted to make it modular so that if we couldn’t come to an arrangement with the actual ‘The Raid,’ that we could take those elements out and it would be my own script,” he revealed.

“And that’s what wound up coming to pass, that we couldn’t reach an agreement with the producers,” he continued. “And so, I just pulled it, and it became its own thing. In many ways, because of its conceit, it’s better than the original. Just the way it’s written, it’s a much more fundamentally emotional film than the original. You feel these things with these characters very, very innately. And I’d love to be able to do that.”

So, in a nutshell, Carnahan plans to take elements of his failed remake, make a movie out of it, and just not call it “The Raid.” Oh, and it’ll be “better than the original.” Gotcha.

To be fair, Carnahan has never said that this would be a straightforward remake and has instead pitched it as a “reimagining” or a distinctly different take—in tone, story focus, and character perspective—rather than just trying to duplicate what made the original so good.

Carnahan, who has described his film as a “reimagining of the same scenario,” will no doubt irk the original’s producers with these plans, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets a cease and desist after these comments.