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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."

19 of 173 comments (clear)

  1. bah, who cares by nomadic · · Score: 4, Funny

    What I want to see is a live-action movie based on Bump N' Jump. That would be great.

    1. Re:bah, who cares by w3weasel · · Score: 4, Insightful
      Ummm, I can't see how they will derrive a plot from spyhunter... how could there plausibly be a state where 70% of the traffic is comprised of suicidal secret agents.

      I'm still waiting for Toe-Jam & Earl, the Movie!

      --

      Just as irrigation is the lifeblood of the Southwest, lifeblood is the soup of cannibals. -- Jack Handy

    2. Re:bah, who cares by DiscoOnTheSide · · Score: 4, Funny

      Never been to Jersey eh? Don't worry, I won't hold it against you... :P

      --
      Viva La Revolucion! Buy a Mac!
  2. The Music by nate+nice · · Score: 4, Funny

    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 ..."
    1. Re:The Music by CaptainCaveman_2002 · · Score: 4, Informative

      I read somewhere (can't remember where) that they had initially wanted to use the James Bond theme as the music for Spy Hunter.

      When that didn't happen, they used the theme from a spy TV show, "Peter Gunn."

      The music was written by Henry Mancini... so it was sure a step above what most video games had.

    2. Re:The Music by Mattintosh · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Heh... IMHO, it's a step above the James Bond theme. Mancini made some kick-ass stuff. Pink Panther, A Shot in the Dark, the love theme from Romeo & Juliet (the 60's one), Baby Elephant Walk from Hatari... the list could go on like that for a while.

  3. i wonder how different this will be ... by BobWeiner · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ....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
    1. Re:i wonder how different this will be ... by Sarcasmooo! · · Score: 4, Funny

      Your main issue with a movie based on a game, starring The Rock, and directed by a stunt coordinator, is that it might be redundant?

      It's going to suck like no movie has ever sucked before. It's going to devour the soul of all movie goers with it's sucking prowess. In one massive sucking motion it.....well I think you get my point.

      It may be redundant in that so MANY things suck, but I have confidence that it will set new boundaries on how much something can suck.

  4. Slow Motion by xluserpetex · · Score: 5, Funny

    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.

  5. Spyhunter by Borg453b · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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 -
    1. Re:Spyhunter by Kaimelar · · Score: 4, Informative
      I know, I'm replying twice, but I just realized that I found time to rant about MMO games, but I didn't actually tell you the title of NCSoft's upcoming Road Warrior-esque MMO title, which was my intention. :-) It's called Auto Assault.

      And just so I don't look like a total idiot (if that's possible), here are some links with more info:

  6. The End by ThisIsFred · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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
    1. Re:The End by irving47 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      In his defense, it was Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Braga that wrote MI:2. Woo just directed it. (yeah, THEM. The ones responsible for Star Trek Voyager.) (shudder)

      --
      I had a sucky sig.
  7. Why a Spy Hunter movie by steveha · · Score: 4, Informative

    Basically, the reason why Hollywood is looking at a Spy Hunter movie is because the 3D, modern Spy Hunter game is so much fun.

    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/fla sh/spyhunter/

    steveha

    --
    lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely
  8. Groundhog Day II by Thranduil · · Score: 4, Funny

    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.

  9. The Big Question... by Cereal+Box · · Score: 4, Funny

    How will John Woo work a shot of flying doves into this movie?

  10. Re:No Woo by jonom · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Yes!

    The Killer is one of my all-time favourites and Hard Boiled is great. Any of his Hong Kong work is much better than the crap he's been making for Hollywood.

  11. Didnt they do this already? by TexNex · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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!

  12. Re:I think I'm going to vomit! by swankypimp · · Score: 4, Funny

    Announcer Guy: He's a superagent who plays by his own rules...
    Police Captain: You can't take on a 90 story building full of enemy spies by yourself!
    Vin Deisel: Sorry chief, I play by my own rules.
    [Turns, winks.]
    Announcer Guy: He's a wise-cracking Negro in the wrong place at the wrong time...
    [The Heroes run through a door way and stop cold. Slow motion pan of a roomful of guys with machine guns pointed at them.]
    Chris Rock: Daaaamn... I haven't seen this many weapons since the last time I was over at Jay Z's house.
    Announcer Guy: This summer, Vin Deisel and Chris Rock star in Elevator Action!
    Hot Chick: Going... down?
    [Things blow up, there is a Bad Ass slow motion kung-fu scene on top of an elevator, bad guys plummet to their deaths.]
    Vin Deisel: Now that's what I call getting the shaft.
    Chris Rock: Yeah, booooy!
    [This film is not yet rated.]

    --

    --All your stolen base are belong to Rickey Henderson