Who wants to be the cover band?

This morning as I opened Facebook my heart sunk at the news that “David Leitch is in talks about the remake of Enter the Dragon”.  Ultimately I knew this day would come but for this lifelong Bruce Lee fan its a slap round the face, Why couldn’t they have just left this one film untouched? Why!  If they are going this route, then a reboot would be less of a blow, but I can’t deny how disappointed I am.

As a money making machine I can see that financially its better to take a risk on remaking something that was hugely successful, but it just feels so wrong to me – to be hanging off the coattails of another’s success.  I have seen some remakes, but they’ll never live up to the original ever.

As I was mulling this over on the way to work I wondered how Bruce would have felt about a remake of his masterpiece?  The movie he died just before his worldwide explosion to mega-stardom (I know how much he hated the word ‘star’ – sorry Bruce, but the legacy he left can’t be denied). Would he be proud that his film was so good that someone else wanted to replicate it, or would he be disappointed?

Does it take away anything that he managed to achieve? After all his life was so much more than being an exceptional martial artist.  His films brought so much pride to his homeland, he smashed through racial stereotypes in Hollywood, not to mention his philosophies which inspire (and especially to a non-martial arts following).  He pushed the boundaries of so much and with such a short life he achieved a great deal.  A remake of his film, of course, will not be able to erase any of this out – maybe it will bring a new generation of BL fans – after all his legacy has stood the test of time.

They’ll be a time when the original Star Wars trilogy gets remade, JAWS, Amadeus and The Last Emperor – all my favourite films.  But there will be one less seat filled in the cinema when they are released.