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John Woo to Direct Spy Hunter Movie?
shadowcabbit writes "Gameforms is reporting that director John Woo, who previously optioned Nintendo's Metroid series of games for the silver screen, is in negotiations with Universal to direct the 2005 film adaptation of Spy Hunter. The film, which will star Dwayne Johnson (aka The Rock), has been in the planning stages since 2001, but has not yet begun production."
What I want to see is a live-action movie based on Bump N' Jump. That would be great.
I used to die on purpose just so I could hear the great music in that game. Sometimes I would wait for when I got a powerup, but usually I just liked driving real fast listining to the cool "spy" music that played for like 30 seconds. Needless to say I wasn't leader of the cool club back then either.
"If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar, A hope-er, a pray-er, a magic bean buyer
anti-slash, which is in sacred jihad against slashdot's editors
I think you just managed to confuse a few low grade trolls with a "sacred jihad". You might want to see someone about that.
No misdirected woo, which is pretty much any John Woo film.
....compared to the James Bond franchise. The Spy Hunter game itself was influenced by Bond's gadget filled cars, so wouldn't this movie, in effect, be redundant?
The PC Weenies: 11 Years of Online Tech 'Too
I have a theory that John Woo shoots every movie at 60fps and just speeds up the ten minutes he doesn't want in slow motion.
Now, I havent played the remakes - but I remember the arcadegame, the c64 port and especially the amiga port with fondness.
Ramming motorcycles with your card, avoiding those annoying wheel cutters and tasting sidewinder missiles for bumping off innocents.
What we need now though; as I discussed with my brother the other day, is a new carmageddonish game - preferably set in a madmax/falloutish world with excellent multiplay and a great singleplayer story rich mode.
The shooter/car-carnage ratio is dangerously off scale.. gta is fun - but the softwarehouses keep churning out FPS'ers - We need weapons mounted on custom job-vehicles and fun bump'n run action..
- Mad, ingenous - they've both left you puzzled -
Woo, that stinks.
You gotta be fucking kidding me. the game that was inspired by the cars in James Bond movies, is now inspiring a movie series?
While, looks like this is the end of the line for John Woo. This is about as low as one can stoop. Sorry if you disagree, but he has had a hand in producing some of the worst crap to ever be spattered on the silver screen. If you don't believe me, watch MI:2 and try not to wince. It the old rip-off-the-latex-mask-disguise device not once, but three times. Even the most lame Scooby Doo mystery managed to use this gag only once, and the audience wasn't asked to take Scooby Doo seriously.
I look forward to the day when John Woo's next project is "Job Hunter".
Fred
"A fool and his freedom are soon parted"
-RMS
It's not like it's a step down from his Hollywood peak (Face /Off, M:I-2) or his Hong Kong era...
Do these Hollywood fucks have to poison every fond childhood memory of people who grew up in the 70s and 80s by making terrible movies based on anything that was popular back then?
Then again, I really feel sorry for the generation that followed mine-- they're doomed to one day be treated to "Tetris: The Motion Picture"
For anyone who doesn't remember Spyhunter (shame!) there's a 3d remake at http://www.adamdawes.com/
:)
And yes, the truck is still impossible to get into
Of course, a movie-inspired video game will be produced....
This sig seemed like a good idea at the time....
You just had to go and open your mouth, didn't you?! Thanks.
"If, therefore, any be unhappy, let him remember that he is unhappy by reason of himself alone."
~Epictetus
what the rock is cookin'. that's all that matters. the most electrifying man in sports-entertainment. hell, i'm going to see this one.
My problem? I was perfectly gruntled, until some numbnuts came by and dissed me.
Cue the Peter Gunn Theme Song!!
how does he keep getting work? he is not a good actor. something blows up, he says some stupid one liner, then gives that damn eyebrow and walks off looking badass. end movie. is what people actually want to see these days?
Honestly, the game was a 2-d top scroller that had no more plot than dodge, dodge, fire. He must be planning an exploding boathouse scene though, I'm sure of that: Spyhunters car speeds towards the boathouse. Helecopter hovers overhead raining down a birrage of bombs. The car zooms into the boathouse, Spyhunter leaps from car to boat. Bombs crash through the roof, and the boat is blown out into the river by the fire and shockwave. Cheers to turning one of the most simple videogames into a 100million dollar budgeted dud. And thanks for ruining one of PKD's best story's
...an adaptation of Bejeweled! His slo-mo interludes would give me a little more time to see what the next move should be.
The Rock jumps from the spy-mobile onto a motorcycle at 100mph to play motorcycle chicken with generic bad guy #1. Before impact The Rock pulls out 2 9mm's (While still maintaining control of the Ducati) and squeezes off two rounds - one to the front tire of the bike (which is about to hit a bus full of handicapped orphans) and while the bad guy is flying in the air the other bullet is a perfectly placed head shot. All this is done in slow motion with CG doves flying everywhere.
Remember when directors were relatively obscure and made great films? That structure didn't work very well for Hollywood; it's easier to sell a name brand ("John Woo") than to convince the public that a new movie from some unknown director is worth seeing. Having John Woo's name on the billboard probably saves the studio loads in marketing costs.
Ok, what is the rock doing in the spy hunter movie. He is a good actor for some films but any kind of spy flick is not for him. Vin Diesel would be better, he is by no stretch a good actor, but he would be much better than the rock...
The best actors would be either Pierce Brosnan, or Hugh Jackman. Get the bad actor out of their and lets get in an actor with style
Most people aren't thought about after they're gone. "I wonder where Rob got the plutonium" is better than most get.
Basically, the reason why Hollywood is looking at a Spy Hunter movie is because the 3D, modern Spy Hunter game is so much fun.
a sh/spyhunter/
The original Spy Hunter was a favorite of mine, but would hardly inspire a movie. It was a top-down (third-person perspective) sprite-based scrolling shooter game, designed to be hard enough that it would pull in a respectable amount of coins in an arcade.
The 3D Spy Hunter game, available for the major game console systems, plays differently and I think it is huge fun. It's a "second-person" shooter: like a first-person game, but you can see yourself (i.e., the car) to make it easier to figure out if you are clearing obstacles. Once you learn the game, you usually don't die; you are racing the clock and trying to find secrets in the various levels more than trying to survive. You have lots of weapons, an unrealistic amount of them, and it's surprising how I never seem to get tired of locking missiles onto bad guys and lighting them up. The music is also excellent in this game, enough so that I want to get Ogg Vorbis files of the music so I can listen to it when I'm not playing the game.
The most recent Spy Hunter game, Spy Hunter 2, is different again. Your car is much more fragile now, and survival is a major problem. Your turbo boost doesn't recharge, you have to find and collect powerups to recharge it. And "boss" enemies are now a major part of the game. While I found the first one to be addictively playable, the second one frustrates me, and frustration isn't fun. Oh, and just in case you are a 12-year-old boy, there is now a female character with lots of polygons on her chest, moving in stiff, unrealistic ways as she walks and talks. Woo hoo! Who needs game play! And the music isn't nearly as interesting as in the first one.
If you haven't tried the Spy Hunter console game, I recommend you do so. It's a fun hybrid of a first-person shooter and a car racing game, retaining the best elements of each.
I'd be extremely happy if they ever release a "Spy Hunter 1.5" with the original game engine, just with new levels to play.
http://www.spyhunter.midway.com/futuretense_cs/fl
steveha
lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely
Ahh, but isn't that the point? To extend the franchise? Next thing you know, there will be a movie-inspired TV series, which will lead to more movies, a comic book, merchandising, direct-to-video specials...
Ditch "The Rock" and cast Chow-Yun Fat as the spy hunter stricken with grief over a singer he accidently blinded while hunting a spy. The spy could be played by Danny Lee .... actually they should just restore "The Killer" and put it in all the theaters - it would probably cost 1/100 of what this visual abomination will.
I never pictured the driver of the Spy Hunter car as a big, hulking guy with muscles. Why not somebody like Clive Owen? (Did BMW build the G-6155 Interceptor?)
Yeah, I know, because The Rock helps sell tickets when he is in an action movie. With The Rock on board the project, you don't need to worry about making an actual movie; you can string together a bunch of explosions and add The Rock and it will sell.
I love the Spy Hunter video game but I don't know if the movie will be any good. Odds are against it, alas.
steveha
lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely
I hope they don't make it like I played Spy Hunter:
1. Tractor-trailer drops off car
2. Drive for a couple minutes, shoot/run cars off of the road
3. Crash and burn
4. Wait for tractor-trailer to drop off another car
5. Repeat 2-4 until the movie's over.
It'll be a plotless version of Groundhog Day.
Like I said he sucks as a director and should be confined into doing just action shots.
Another movie legend sells out to Hollywood and dies a terrible death whoring himself out to shitty films and licences.
How will John Woo work a shot of flying doves into this movie?
Sorry, I just get annoyed by stupid mods.
I seems to remember a movie called the Transporter that was pretty much all that spy hunter could & should be. It had bikes, boats, cars, and guns & gadgets...what else do you need to represent a video game which comprised of a vehicle knocking other vehicles off the screen using brute force & gimmic gadgets. We don't need a rehash of a pointless game that was about nothing more than destroying stuff. Good lord the next thing you know they'll do a movie about a martial arts tournament that decides the fate of the world...oh wait...that was mortal combat!
In reply to the Tetris comments...
Gabe and Tycho have already suggested this, only they initially thought of Jerry Bruckheimer.
- Neil Wehneman
My legal education, in nifty podcast format
...Knight Rider. You've got the super decked-out car, the van he comes out of... I mean, it's a perfect match, at least to start out with. As for young David Hasselhoff, I don't know that he was your typical "Action Movie Star", but he did a good job at being Michael Knight.
So yeah, I wouldn't mind seeing a Spy Hunter movie, but I'd love to see a Knight Rider movie. Especially for the soundtrack.
pb Reply or e-mail; don't vaguely moderate.
Truck drops off car, car runs straight off road and stays there for a few levels and whenever the helicopters aren't around as no one can kill you.
Shouldn't you be spending more time fucking your sister instead of reading this post? I mean, come on, the bitch will be 15 before you know it. Then what fun will it be?
Jesus, this gets rated insightful? I mean... well, I just don't know what to say. I had always assumed there were enough smart people to make moderations more or less fair, but this post has the intelligence, and insightfulness, of a 6th grade kid making fun of a 3rd grader.
If you get nervous, just remember that there are a few billion other people who don't really give a damn.
What about that? It was pretty good, and very close to what you're talking about.
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
Has every original idea already been thought of? We've moved from bad sitcoms, to bad animation, to bad videogames as cinematic plot devices? What's next? My Three Sons - The Movie? Burgertime?
At least there may be some creativity (or at least some intellect involved in playing the Hollywood game). There's a rumor of Free Enterprise 2 in development for Summer of 2005. Though I have a fear a sequel of this classic would destroy it.
" I was almost enthused until I read this "The film, which will star Dwayne Johnson (aka The Rock)".
Yeah, sure buddy. Until I heard the rock was gonna be in it I figured this one would be up there with classics like Wing Commander and Double Dragon. But now I'm just worried that the Rock won't be able to pull off the dialogue believably.
*dipshit*
I can't count the number of times I was driving and wished there was a button on my steering wheel that I could use to shoot at the moron in front of me...
Microsoft has just announced a 6 year joint venture with Peter Jackson to make the holliwood epic of "Solitaire"
Aaaahh, let me guess... you've never seen Johnson act in anything except maybe little snippets of wrestling you like to make fun of so you can feel superior.
For action parts, Dwayne's a great actor. I mean, hell, if people can spend a decade enjoying Arnold Schwarzenegger in movies, I'm sure they can enjoy an action hero with actual talent.
Happy people make bad consumers.
John Woo is best left to low-budget movies.
Now, "The Rock" sucks. He is best left to groping and being groped by large men for the amusement of white trash.
Act 1
(The Rock steps into his car within the trailer of a semi. The rear door drops down and drags behind the truck in a spray of sparks. The car goes flying backwards - optionally spinning around in theoretically impossible fashion - and then takes off.)Scene 1
Scene 2
(The Rock drives the car down a road. Don't ask what road. The background is mostly green. He shoots some bad guys with spikes on their hubcaps and curses whenever he bumps into a motorcycle.)Scene 3
(Same as Scene 2... only the background is more orange-brown-ish.)Scene 4
(Same as Scene 3... only the background is more grey-ish.)etc...
Which is better..
Bump N' Jump
Sex with John Woo
Sex with a mare
..on the rock and his movie(s). (scroll to bottom of page to see orignal quote. Or just trust me that I quoted it right (hah! these are the people that PGP sign their usenet postings (which isn't neccesarily a bad idea (apologies for the nested parenth.) but is still rather..weird?))fat chance, eh?)
/-nerds would expect) watch The Rock's movies solely for the fact that he is, quote, "A total hunk!", "really sexily built", and "has a nice bod", unquothe.
Quote:
[The rock is] also set to play in Spy Hunter (wow, a wrestler-videogame movie about a game which didn't even have a main character. I'm stoked) I hear. I assume he's going to play the car, and run down the road tossing missles at people (occasionally stopping to Rock Bottom a Bentley).
But intresting points made, even if the rock is stuck in "wrestler-actor limbo", he does a damn good job: fighting, acting, and Rocking. When I say Rocking, I'm talking about the fact that all the chicks I know (which is more then you
"The most looniest, zaniest, spontaneous, sporadic Impulsive thinker, compulsive drinker, addict"
why arnt they making max payne, halflife, hell even doom, or one of the thousands of other games that would make much better movies than SPY HUNTER I would not be suprised to see a pacman movie now
That's nice. See, I was worried that some game that I have fond memories of might be too obscure and too un-film-like to be made into a really pathetically lame movie with a retarded wrestler blundering around in it. But it seems I was worried about nothing -- cause there's _nothing_ they can't stick a wrestler and a few minutes of tragically dull pseudo-Hong Kong brawling onto these days!
What a relief.
Thanks, Hollywood.
Whence? Hence. Whither? Thither.
You sir have both an informed opinion and excellent tastes, what the hell are YOU doing on slashdot? Normally either one of these traits is enough to bar one from membership.
Indiana Jones was supposed to be America's answer to James Bond. The pressure to have an answer subsided when Bond movies took up feltching.
The British have Bond. And from our side of the Atlantic there's: Mission Impossible, True Lies, Indiana Jones, and now Bourne Identity/Supremecy. Things like xXx, we can just forget those. Or we can just put them in the Tomorrow Never Dies box.
Just as soon as her nice new big juicy titty implants heal. Then I'll tag her ass real good.
He was awful in his speaking parts. All ham. He's half naked and still felt the need to mug his way through Conan? I guess he was kinda inconspicious. "It's not a tumor!" I dare ANYONE to say that and not do the accent. He can reliably provide, look menacing, look angry, look confident, anything else you're rolling the dice.
More over the Rock has really good comedic timing. So maybe he isn't Harrison Ford MK II, but he's a world away from arnold.
After the winter scene he heads out to the country when a sniper from a limo shoots out his tire causing him to barnstorm a boathouse so he's now driving a rambo'ed up cigar boat.
Yup... you guessed it... They will be directing the hit block buster action adventure thriller version of Q-bert based on the classic 80's arcade game!
Fucking Sweet!
Word is, Ben Affleck will play Coily!
I believe only one was pulled, and that was The Follow. They must have worked out the issues, because that movie is back on the site; you can just download it along with the others.
steveha
lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely
Thank you! That's perfect. I'll use that term from now on.
steveha
lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely
He becomes sexier with each passing day
The Spy Hunter console video game has a movie-like plot.
There is a multinational company that is actually run by a secret society. The company is named NOSTRA, from Nostradamus, and these guys take his prophecies way too seriously. There is this one prophecy about the Four Horsemen riding and a king rising to rule what's left of the Earth; they have a plan to launch four satellites into orbit and use EMP weapons to smash all the computers and such, hopefully plunging the world into a new Dark Ages, and they figure they will end up ruling the world.
Of course they have offices and labs and things all over the world, so you travel all over on your missions to figure out what they are up to. Your car can shoot radio trackers onto trucks or ships, your car has a scanner that can find trucks carrying evil payloads, and you have to not only blow up enemies but do things like find bombs and disable them (luckily you have a magic "EMP gun" that disables bombs). In one level the bad guys have stolen a car from the good guys; the car is just like the one you are driving, and while you are chasing it, it hits you with oil slicks and such. In the final level you need to drive inside their ridiculous lair and prevent the four missiles from launching.
The car, of course, is the real star here. It drops oil slicks, fires missiles, and if you go into water, it morphs to a boat. If you take a lot of damage, most of the car explodes and falls away, and you are left driving an armored motorcycle. If you take the motorcycle into the water, it morphs into an armored jet ski!
With a decent script, a decent director, decent music and a decent actor in the lead role, this could add up to an enjoyable action movie.
steveha
lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely
Which boiler room was that? IMDB had only two matches for movies named boiler room: This one.
:D
And this one.
Perhaps you mean one of his other fine films.
Anyways, Woo is a great director, and I'm not sure what you meant...go see The Killer...
Who is this Anonymous Coward character, how does he post so much, and why is he always such a whore?
The music is also excellent in this game, enough so that I want to get Ogg Vorbis files of the music so I can listen to it when I'm not playing the game.
Is it just me, or are you trying to go out of your way to mention the fact that you're using ogg vorbis?
(Take that, karma!)
I've got more mod points and GMail invi
I thought we were over that?
I don't like X. X still has lots of fans, good ratings and activity. X must be dying.
+4 insightful
It was a joke your fucking dolt. Why don't you grow a pony tail so you can pull your head out of your ass.
and start ruining my favorite books instead!
Huh. Movies based on anti-spyware utilities. You'd think that Norton Antivirus would get a movie first, I mean, that's WAY more action-oriented.
Apparently, there's a clause in the contract that will make Universal Pictures pay additional royalties if the movie doesn't get at least 70% on Rotten Tomatoes.
This is (quite reasonably) to protect the good name of the Spy Hunter brand.