Justin Lin Forum

So, like this, but with The Rock and Vin Diesel and guns.

I confess that I haven't seen the Lone Wolf And Cub series of films aside from a few snippets here and there; so far as serialized Japanese swordplay films go, I was always more of a Zatoichi guy, myself. I also haven't read the manga, although I remember stocking the Dark Horse reissues back when I used to work in a bookstore, when Frank Miller provided new cover art for the trades.

It looks like I'll have to bone up on one or the other, though, as Lone Wolf And Cub is going to return to cinemas if Kamala Films has anything to say about it: they've obtained the rights to the work and have attached Fast Five's Justin Lin to direct. The series, set in Edo-period Japan, revolves around a disgraced enforcer for the shogun, forced to roam the land with his three-year-old son as he attempts to exact vengeance on his former master. At least, that's what I'm reading on Wikipedia.

It's difficult to know how this'll work; the hiring of Lin seems to indicate that Kamala wants to make this some kind of mainstream action epic, but it's unclear how they'll do that without transitioning the action away from feudal Japan. They could go for a straight adaptation, with the obvious casting of Ken Watanabe as Lone Wolf, or they could transpose the action to modern-day Tokyo yakuza (maybe with Takeshi Kitano as the evil crime lord?), or, in the worst-case scenario, shift everything to America and have Channing Tatum run around with a baby and a gun.

The central plotline of vengeance, with a young child in tow, obviously works in any setting, but we'll have to see where Kamala chooses to go with it. David and Janet Peoples will be handling the script, which is at least a good sign; the pair wrote Twelve Monkeys, with David chipping in on the script for Blade Runner, as well. Interestingly, though, neither of the pair has a screenplay credit since the late 90's.

I remember when they made that into a movie and called it Road to Perdition, solid movie Tom Hanks killin fools bit of a odd site. Also Daniel Craig is in that.

I've always wanted to watch the Lone Wolf and Cub series, but it's too damn expensive.

And god, what I wouldn't give for a good movie set in feudal Japan. WE NEED MORE OF THOSE HOLLYWOOD.

I KNOW YOU'RE LISTENING.

STOP IGNORING ME.

okay fine.

I have started buying the DVD's to Lone Wolf and Cub back when the movie Ultraviolet came out staring Milla Jovovich. The Lone Wolf series title Baby Cart and the river of Styx had a scene which 2006 Ultraviolet rip/off. The one in with the well. Since, then I notice a lot of action movies have rip/off from the classic 70's movie series. Even Quentin Tarantino in Kill Bill 2 reference the movie a lot or actually it's condense America release "Shogun Assassin" which took to movie and cut them together. I really hated Tarantino kept mention "Shogun Assassin" as if that was the only movie never referring that it was from the Lone Wolf and Cub series which had more stories. Also, 2006 Ultraviolet rip-off of that well scene is terrible. If Mr. Lin isn't careful, he might have the same problem Staton had with John Carter, where a lot of popular and mediocre films had taken so much from the 70's series, that audience will see nothing new from this "bad idea" remake he's planning.

@Street_Hawk said:

I have started buying the DVD's to Lone Wolf and Cub back when the movie Ultraviolet came out staring Milla Jovovich. The Lone Wolf series title Baby Cart and the river of Styx had a scene which 2006 Ultraviolet rip/off. The one in with the well. Since, then I notice a lot of action movies have rip/off from the classic 70's movie series. Even Quentin Tarantino in Kill Bill 2 reference the movie a lot or actually it's condense America release "Shogun Assassin" which took to movie and cut them together. I really hated Tarantino kept mention "Shogun Assassin" as if that was the only movie never referring that it was from the Lone Wolf and Cub series which had more stories. Also, 2006 Ultraviolet rip-off of that well scene is terrible. If Mr. Lin isn't careful, he might have the same problem Staton had with John Carter, where a lot of popular and mediocre films had taken so much from the 70's series, that audience will see nothing new from this "bad idea" remake he's planning.

I don't think you can blame Tarantino for referencing the Shogun Assassin movies instead of Lone Wolf-- that was the American release of those movies. And from what I've heard they're almost not comparable. The Shogun Assassin series edits together the Lone Wolf movies out of order and totally changed the soundtrack as well.

As far as I can tell (without ever having watched either) the two are seemingly very different and kind of stand alone in a weird way.

Casting of Daigoro crucial.

Road to Perdition was a good adaptation of the story. If they change the setting to something different, it can definitely work.

@Street_Hawk said:

I really hated Tarantino kept mention "Shogun Assassin" as if that was the only movie never referring that it was from the Lone Wolf and Cub series which had more stories.

I guarantee you Tarantino has seen and obsessed over all the original films in the series too. It's just that, as @RockyRaccoon said, that's what we got in the US so in the context of Kill Bill it makes sense that it would be something Bill was fond of. It also fits thematically with an unlikely anti-hero systematically seeking revenge.

Lone Wolf and Cub was the first manga I ever read. I totally fell in love and I still go back to it every once in a while. Part of the brilliance of it though, is that its pace is extremely deliberate with huge gaps in between the action. That can still make for a great film, but it's certainly the opposite of "Fast & Furious". Consider me worried. :/

There has never been a duel more epic than the one at the end of the Lone Wolf and Cub comics. I am ravenously eager for this, with the understanding that I will almost certainly be disappointed.

@Foggen said:

There has never been a duel more epic than the one at the end of the Lone Wolf and Cub comics.

Agreed. It's real shame that the film series never got to that point.

I love the comics and the film and this saddens me. I know for years Aronofsky was talking of doing this. Now we've got some MTV hack like Lin to fuck it up.

@MrMazz: I was just going to say that. Road to Perdition is the only Americanized version of this story that we need. I'm hoping Lin keeps true to the source material, which I would count on in fact, since he has displayed a passion for focusing on Asian actors and Asian culture (with Better Luck Tomorrow anyway). By the way, if there's anyone here who hasn't seen Better Luck Tomorrow, and thinks Lin is simply an Asian Michael Bay-wannabe, get on that shit.

@CashBailey

Now we've got some MTV hack like Lin to fuck it up.

I reiterate, see Better Luck Tomorrow. That movie isn't the work of a hack (though ironically enough, it was released by MTV Films).

Just going to toss this out here... You don't like just throw it right back... Ogami Itto = John Goodman

@vonDread said:

I reiterate, see Better Luck Tomorrow. That movie isn't the work of a hack (though ironically enough, it was released by MTV Films).

Thanks for the tip. I always try to give directors the benefit of the doubt, although three (and apparently four next year) boldly terrible movies is a pretty big strike against him. I'm willing to believe that for blockbusters like the Fast & Furious series, the director's vision and talent might be overshadowed by the other more powerful (and shitty) folks helping to create the flick.

Fingers crossed!

@gangly: I see what you saying about Tarantino in keeping with the "Shogun Assassin" reference. It's just in every movie of hist there's the whole film nerd dialog comes out and I finger he would have done the same thing in Kill Bill. But I forget that his start into the whole movies was working at the video store. Being one that remember video rental stores "Shogun Assassins" was one those most rented out my me and countless others. So, I can see why that was only reference in that movie. I just finger he would have gone to that super explain everything mode he know for writing. I just think it's a major thing he overlook. But, I do understand how the same movie with different edits fit's just as well as the other series. One movie I go back to is Jackie Chan The Protector from the 80;s. I remember enjoying The Protector that was director by 80's action guru James Glicenhaus. It would be years later in the 90's when Jackie Chan popularity came back to the U.S I saw the Hong Kong version that Jackie Chan did that I found a better version. I wasn't a fan of slow-mode until John Woo made it cool again. But I alway's found the U.S version of Jackie Chan The Protector just as good. I very conflicted about that movie mainly for the H.K was faster pace and more humorous much like Super Cop and Rumble in the Bronx. So, yeah I guess two different style of the same movie can be like. Strange how that is.

@Street_Hawk said:

...in every movie of hist there's the whole film nerd dialog comes out and I finger he would have done the same thing in Kill Bill.

Good point, but I'd say his intentions with the references were different in that one. You're totally right about the "film nerd dialog" in all his other movies, but I think he may have felt Kill Bill was too close to what he was referencing to actually discuss those references. A lot of the movie was, after all, shot in China and Japan with an Asian crew, so the making of it was physically close to where he was drawing his inspiration.

I think you'd get a kick outta this: