Remember the Silent Hill movie? Remember how the first three quarters of it were actually somewhat decent? Well, Christophe Gans, the director of one of the only video game movies not to be complete garbage, is all set to try his hand at a distinctly different beast when he directs a movie based on the Capcom hit series, Onimusha.
The franchise, set in ancient Japan and mixing historical events and personalities with a fictional fantasy about the rise of demonic forces, would make for an excellent adventure movie, full of wonderful setpieces, some terrific action sequences and plenty of monsters getting whacked upside the head. It's all about whether or not Gans can deliver though.
The very fact that he's not Uwe Boll is a very good sign already, and if his ability to understand the source material remains as clear as it did in Silent Hill, then we're talking about a film that might just be bloody awesome. Want to know more? The jump's right there for you to hit.
[Via Screendaily.com]
The Onimusha story is being adapted by Leslie Kruger and John Collee (Master and Commander) and while there's no studio confirmed yet, it's said that Essential Entertainment are showing some very strong interest. Due to be hot in China, production begins in February 2008 as of this report, set for a December 2009 release.
Gans himself is very positive on his involvement with the project:
"I have loved the Onimusha story for years and am overjoyed to have the opportunity now to bring it to life for worldwide film audiences and to access the unparalleled film resources of China to do so on the scale that the story demands."
Onimusha has always had a lot of critical praise heaped upon it and is certainly a fantastic series, but at the same time, doesn't have any deep mythos that could be potentially damaged by a film, if only in the eyes of fans. Its focus on the fighting and demonic side of things make it a very hard property to screw up in translation to the big screen. Plus anything involving Oda Nobunaga is gold. Expect a good old fashioned, sword swinging, popcorn movie of a romp in 2009.
And Guildenstern better be in it.
Contest:
10:19 PM on 05.19.2007
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Exactly.
Took the words out of my mouth.
I remember playing Oni 3 when my then-roommate walked in. He looked at the screen, looked away, then did a classic, Looney Tunes-style double take.
"Holy shit...is that fucking Jean Reno? What the fuck is he doing in an Onimusha game?"
I still have no answer for him. But it was cool. Too bad they couldn't use his voice in English.
go big or go home.
AND DON"T FUCK IT UP!!
i hope this movie gets made and is good
its really hard to believe in VG movies because they usually suck...
The entire movie should be this:
Jean Reno plays himself in a past life, where he is also named Jean Reno. He's a captain underneath the shogunate lead by Lord Nobunaga, who is also played by Jean Reno.
During the battle of Reno-deska, he realizes that Lord Nobunaga is evil incarnate, but realizes it too late, and he and the rest of the clan (all played by Jean Reno), are left for dead. Jean Reno wakes up pissed off and decides he'll start killing zombie after zombie (played by Jean Reno) until he makes his way back to Nobunaga, for an amazing swordfight finish atop a giant mountain (played by Jean Reno), and that final fight scene is also choreographed by Jean Reno.
You are the winner.
That's exactly how I envisioned it.
Yeah I hope they use Takeshi. It wouldn't be the same without him.
So what exactly is the news ? O_o The fact that Monsieur Gans is going to direct an Onimusha flick is already from back in the days when SH came out.
I'm pretty excited 'cause SH has been by far the best game-to-movie adaption. When this guy is dedicated like he has been with SH, he knows what he's doing. No doubt so far.
The Onimusha series is one of the best vg-series there is to date, one of the best Capcom has to offer. Imo even better than DMC. I dunno what it's all about part 3. Yeah, Reno is an excellent actor, his participation was nice, but somehow future or present Paris doesn't fit to the Onimusha universe. It felt like "Jason in Space" aka "Jason X" or "Cenobites in Space" aka "Hellraiser ?" or "Jurassic Park in Space" aka "Dino Crisis 3", somehow awkward. 4 > 2 > 1 > 3.
Mister Kaneshiro would be an excellent choice for playing Samanosuke. *thumbs_up*