REMO WILLIAMS: THE ADVENTURE BEGINS (1985)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *uncanny*, 
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *psychological, sociological*                                                                                                                          Even though I never read more than one or two installments of the popular "Destroyer" men's adventure series, it seems like a natural for big-screen adaptation. Apparently the producers signed lead actor Fred Ward for a three-picture deal on the theory that they could finesse the concept into a Bond-like film franchise. Yet. despite hiring two creative persons who had worked on 007 movies (director Guy "GOLDFINGER" Hamilton, writer Christopher ("SPY WHO LOVED ME"), what they ended up producing looks like a big-budget version of one of those cheesy TV-superhero flicks, like the 1970s CAPTAIN AMERICA telefilms.                                                 

  For reasons never made clear, a super-secret government agency named CURE needs to draft a new agent to learn the rare martial arts discipline "Sinanju," courtesy of the art's only living teacher, eccentric Korean Chiun (Joel Grey). An agent named Mac decides, also for no stated reason, to draft a cop named Sam into becoming Chiun's new pupil. CURE brings this tutelage about by faking Sam's death, giving him a new face via plastic surgery, and rechristening Sam as "Remo Williams" (Fred Ward). Sam, after expressing some mild confusion over his reinvented life, seems to be totally okay with assuming the new identity and bidding farewell to whatever old life he once possessed.                                                                                             

Roughly an hour is then consumed as the obnoxious Chiun puts Remo through a host of ordeals designed to mold him into the perfect government assassin-- a destiny that Remo also has zero problems with. I'm sure the intent of the many training scenes was meant not just to establish how Remo becomes a physical paragon who can dodge bullets and suchlike, but to build up the sense of an emotional bond between student and teacher. These character-establishing scenes between Ward and Grey are decent, and the best thing in ADVENTURE. But the movie is a total letdown in terms of its villains. I couldn't determine from the Internet the plot of the first DESTROYER novel, so I don't know if that's the template scripter Wood followed. But wherever it came from, it was a terrible idea to give the new hero a fat-cat villain who's running a scam to bilk the US military, and who just has a small collection of thugs working for him. Moreover, despite a "big" scene filmed at the real Statue of Liberty, all of the stunts are pedestrian, like Hamilton's direction. Ward, Grey and Kate Mulgrew (playing a potential love interest for Remo) try hard. But the overall effect is as if ADVENTURE was made by people who never even SAW a Bond movie before, much less that any of them had actually worked on one.