Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins, 1985.
Directed by Guy Hamilton.
Starring Fred Ward, Joel Grey and Wilford Brimley.
SYNOPSIS:
After discovering his “death” was faked, a New York police officer finds that he is to become the weapon of a secret organisation, whose goal it is to eliminate threats to the government, no matter who or what they are. With a new identity and under the tutelage of martial arts expert Chuin, Remo Williams is ready for action.
Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins, is pure 80’s action; it has a typical, and in this case, excellent score for its time, with plenty of synthesizer notes from Craig Safan, lots of over-the-top fighting (along with amplified sound effects to match), and a good balance of humour-particularly during the training sequences that Williams progresses through.
Based on the series of novels: The Destroyer, by Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir, Remo Williams: TAB is an enjoyable, tongue-in-cheek romp. It begins with the apparent death of an NYPD officer. However, the cop is saved and procured by an organisation called CURE. After briefly being told what his role within this hush-hush group is Williams (played by Fred Ward) soon finds himself being trained in a mystical martial art called Shinanju by Chiun (played excellently by Joel Grey) and it is during the interplay between the two that the film shines brighter than the average 80’s fist-fest.
Although it is called Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins, unfortunately it stops at the end; there was no sequel. The way it was laid out however perhaps was the cause of this; the introduction to the characters and their roles was quite lengthy and it was some way into the tale before the “bad guy” and his project was revealed. In my opinion this didn’t detract from the film’s strengths (character interaction and humour) but didn’t help to pave the way for a sequel. In fact at the end of Remo’s adventure I felt I had watched a very good pilot for a T.V series.
On Blu-ray the film looks good, a few grainy shots but on the whole a good transfer, the excellent soundtrack feeling the benefit of the modern technology. There are some excellent extras on the disc: “Remo, Rambo, Reagan and the Reds” is a great piece on 80’s action flicks with interviews with experts of the era, and “When East met West” which is Joel Grey’s take on his role as Chiun.
On the whole Remo Williams proves that if there was a Royal Rumble of 80’s action movies, he could more than hold his own against some of the greats. Worth a watch.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
J-P Wooding – Follow me on Twitter.
Originally published July 7, 2014. Updated April 12, 2018.
