Rebooting Scharwzenegger movies seems to be the next, big thing. Terminator was prequeled without Arnold. Robert Rodriguez has resurrected Predator without him and added an “s” to it. Now Fox is planning a remake of Commando, according to Deadline.
The original 1985 movie starred Arnold as a retired solider, now single parent, who finds himself forced back into action when bad guys kidnap his daughter. The film’s noteworthy because future uber-hottie Alyssa Milano played the daughter and also because it’s the first Arnold movie to incorporate humor along with the action, in a way that eventually became his trademark until he took it too far and ended up in Kindergarten Cop. Whoops.
Much like Kindergarten Cop, Commando is far from one of Arnold’s best movies. I’ve always said if you’re going to remake something, remake something horrible and see if you can improve on it. Why redo something that’s already done right? This seems like perfect material on which to test that theory and David Ayer will be the man testing it. He’s been hired to write and direct the redo.
Ayer most recently directed the pretty awful 2008 Keanu Reeves movie Street Kings. His recent writing and directing resume is littered with action movies, most of them bad. Earlier in his career, though, he seemed to have something as a writer. He’s responsible for the generally solid scripts used on Training Day and U-571. Also working in his favor here is Ayer’s background as a Navy Seal which could allow him to bring reality to an otherwise played out and ridiculous premise.
Of course the only Commando question that really matters is who will replace Arnold? I’m sure at some point they’ll talk to Sam Worthington, and a year ago he might have been a realistic possibility. Now, after Avatar and Clash of the Titans, he’s probably too big a star to do it. Maybe somebody can talk The Rock into returning to action movies, assuming he’s not too busy babysitting his neighbor’s kids.
