‘It’s Miller Time’ – Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins

20th August 2014

Adapted from the Destroyer series of novels by Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir, Guy Hamilton’s Remo Williams is true 80’s action. With poor acting, poor fight scenes and synth on repeat it is a triumph in cringe and therefore a MUST SEE!

Remo Williams (Fred Ward) is a New York Cop whose death was faked by secret organisation CURE to be trained as the greatest weapon against corruption. Reluctantly trained by the near-mystical and proud Korean master Chiun (Joel Grey) and now armed with the ability to dodge bullets and walk on water Remo is on the trail of a corrupt arms manufacturer with deep connections in the U.S. military. Aided by the only woman of integrity in the U.S. military Major Raynor Fleming (Kate Mulgrew) the adventure begins as we follow Remo through his transformation, his training and the jocular action that ensues.

Whilst being about as far away as you can be from Oscar success, Remo Williams is a fun and entertaining piece of film-making. Though stretched at times and maybe 20 or so minutes too long there is great character interaction, humour and for those amongst us who love a good backstory (of which I am one) there is enough in this film to get you going, but with enough left over to leave you wanting more. Its real flaws are the poor execution of fight scenes, some very wooden acting and dialogue that can make anyone’s cringe glands swell. I found it hard to understand why a man who can walk on water (or at least wet cement) found a fight with three average builders paid 30 dollars so darned difficult; but this level of insanity is also what makes this film watchable!

A strong transfer to the blu-ray format, with only a couple of low quality moments, Remo Williams has some good extras and so long as you don’t take it seriously this is a film you can watch a million times on the late night where you just want to shut off and watch some nonsense.

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