Keanu Reeves may be preparing to hunt another serial killer. And this time, he could have Don Lee standing beside him. Which sounds like very bad news for the serial killer. According to Variety, Reeves is in talks to star in Paramount’s new version of The Gangster, the Cop, the Devil. James Wan will direct the crime thriller, while Lee, also known as Ma Dong-seok, will return as the gangster he played in the original South Korean film. And there you have it,
Hollywood is remaking another successful international movie. At least we can be grateful that it remembered to invite one of the people who made the first one work.
The original film arrived in 2019 and follows Jang Dong-su, a feared crime boss who becomes the only known survivor of a serial killer’s attack. Unfortunately for Jang, surviving creates a different problem. A gangster who nearly died during a roadside attack may not inspire quite the same fear among his rivals. He therefore agrees to work with detective Jung Tae-seok, played by Kim Mu-yeol, to find the killer. The gangster wants revenge. The detective wants an arrest, and neither man particularly enjoys the idea of working with the other.
What could possibly go wrong?
The film screened at the Cannes Film Festival and became a box-office success in South Korea. Maybe the reason this worked so well is because the partnership between the gangster and detective always felt unstable. They needed each other, but each man also knew the other belonged on the opposite side of the law. Yeah, that’s probably why it worked. Cannes described the story as two men pooling their skills and resources to find the serial killer known as K.
Now Reeves may join the new version, although reports have not confirmed which character he would play. The obvious guess would be the detective, especially with Lee returning as Jang. But until Paramount tells us, he could be the cop, the devil or someone standing nearby wondering why everyone looks so angry. Eric Pearson wrote the latest screenplay after earlier drafts by Shay Hatten and Brian Helgeland. Wan will also produce through Blumhouse Atomic Monster. Sylvester Stallone and D. Matt Geller are producing through Balboa Productions, while Lee is involved through Big Punch Global. Wow, that is quite a collection of people who understand fighting, revenge and men walking away from explosions.
Reeves certainly makes sense for this world because of his experience in John Wick. The last fourfilms demonstrated that he can enter a room, say very little and make everyone deeply regret what they did to him. But playing the detective could offer him something slightly different. I don’t see Jung as a perfectly controlled assassin in an expensive suit. He is an aggressive detective who dislikes Jang almost as much as he needs him. The role requires irritation, suspicion and the uncomfortable acceptance that sometimes the criminal has better information than the police. Yeah, I can see how that could spiral into the kind of tension that could shatter glass.
Reeves works well opposite actors with a strong physical presence. And Don Lee has enough of that to occupy the entire screen. Lee does not need an elaborate fight scene to appear dangerous. Sometimes he simply stands there while everyone around him makes sensible decisions about their immediate future. In Train to Busan, he punched his way through infected passengers while protecting his pregnant wife. In The Gangster, the Cop, the Devil, he turned Jang into someone brutal enough to frighten criminals but charismatic enough to keep audiences on his side.
But again we have to wonder whether this film needs a remake.
The original is available with subtitles, tells the story perfectly well and already contains Don Lee. Hollywood has a habit of discovering a successful Asian film and deciding that the most useful response is to make it again in English. The way I see it, subtitles have never harmed anyone. But I will admit that bringing Lee back changes the conversation slightly. Paramount is not replacing the original star with somebody more familiar to American audiences. Lee will remain at the centre of the story, and the new version could give him an even larger international platform.
Wan is also an interesting choice. He understands horror through Saw, Insidious and The Conjuring, but he has also directed large action films such as Furious 7 and Aquaman. A serial-killer thriller gives him the opportunity to combine tension, violence and the occasional scene where everyone should probably stop entering dark buildings alone. The remake has no confirmed release date yet, and Reeves has not officially joined the cast. But placing him opposite Don Lee would give the film an immediate reason to exist beyond simply translating the dialogue.
The task for Hollywood is to prove that it can add something to a film that already worked. And I get the feeling that Keanu Reeves and Don Lee staring angrily at each other might be a good place to start.
