Remo Williams is a very, very blatant attempt to cash in on two 80's movie sensations: James Bond and Indiana Jones, with some Karate Kid thrown in for good measure. In particular, "Remo's Theme" sounds so ripped off from Indy that I actually laughed out loud when it first played.
This film was obviously intended to be the first of a series, as evidenced by the title, but how anyone could think this would become a classic is beyond me, as every single element of the plot and every character is a VERY blatant ripoff of something or other.
What's left for this movie to be is just a lighthearted uncomplex action flick, and while it succeeds at times (mostly in the training sequences), it's mostly way too big on building up Remo into some sort of folk hero on the level of 007 or the aforementioned Indiana Jones. And a folk hero he is NOT. The plot is pretty damn silly and doesn't have the "cool" factor of any of the Indiana Jones films, and all too much time is spent on it. The one liners, except the ones from Remo's hilarious, albeit cliché, instructor, mostly fall flat. ("What've you got there?" "Oh, just a small matter... OF NATIONAL SECURITY!")
In the end, it's way too corny to be a classic, and takes itself way too seriously for me to have been able to watch it with my brain turned off and just chuckle at it, I gave it a 4 out of 10, 2 of that just for the great character of his soap-opera watching korean martial arts instructor.
This film was obviously intended to be the first of a series, as evidenced by the title, but how anyone could think this would become a classic is beyond me, as every single element of the plot and every character is a VERY blatant ripoff of something or other.
What's left for this movie to be is just a lighthearted uncomplex action flick, and while it succeeds at times (mostly in the training sequences), it's mostly way too big on building up Remo into some sort of folk hero on the level of 007 or the aforementioned Indiana Jones. And a folk hero he is NOT. The plot is pretty damn silly and doesn't have the "cool" factor of any of the Indiana Jones films, and all too much time is spent on it. The one liners, except the ones from Remo's hilarious, albeit cliché, instructor, mostly fall flat. ("What've you got there?" "Oh, just a small matter... OF NATIONAL SECURITY!")
In the end, it's way too corny to be a classic, and takes itself way too seriously for me to have been able to watch it with my brain turned off and just chuckle at it, I gave it a 4 out of 10, 2 of that just for the great character of his soap-opera watching korean martial arts instructor.