Director/writer: Géla Babluani
Release Date: 2010 (USA)
Genre: Drama | Thriller
Plot: A naive young man assumes a dead man's identity and finds himself embroiled in an underground world of power, violence, and chance where men gamble behind closed doors on the lives of other men.

Cast:

Jason Statham
Mickey Rourke
Ray Liotta
Ray Winstone
50 Cent

The unfortunate trend of casting rappers in movies continues. Here's the first pic of Rourke from the film:




IMDB

I'm in.

I've seen the original. It's almost brilliant. I have no interest in the remake, whatsoever. Is it even in black-and-white?

Of course not. What, you think this is a Bela Tarr movie or somethin'?

The only positive aspect one can claim here is that at least Géla Babluani is at the helm. Regardless, my gut reaction tells me that like Sluizer and Bornedal's American remakes, this too will end up missing the magic captured the first time round.

No interest.

The original was interesting in some ways but the execution prevented me from ever being fully engaged. I also didn't buy the lead performance.

Could be a fun remake, though I'm sure it'd be absolutely nothing like the original. B&W didn't really add to the original, not sure the remake would need it.

Eh, you lost me at Jason Statham.

They had me at Jason Statham and Mickey Rourke, though I like the stark simplicity of the original which will likely be lost here.

Did you hear that sound? I think my head just exploded.

I just saw the original a few weeks ago and was wondering if and when an American remake may happen. I also thought, while watching it, that Jason Statham would be great in this movie as one of the brothers (don't remember their names).

I don't see how 13 Tzameti can be improved.

Pro-B

Never heard of the original but Jason Statham and Mickey Rourke will get me to the remake.

Well this one seems to be stuck in distribution limbo/hell. I'm sure the closure of Paramount Vantage has a bit part in that, but as of this time it still does not have a US Distributor.

I wound up seeing this last night (... just keep the thread focused on the movie itself). I had completely forgotten about both this remake and 13 Tzameti despite having posted in this thread 2 years ago. It took me a few minutes to realize I had seen the movie before.

They added a little bit of unneccessary filler in the remake, but it was still an entertaining watch. I see it being popular on video for those that haven't seen the original once it's out of distribution limbo, it's well paced and has a ridiculously recognizable cast which swelled to include:

Jason Statham
Mickey Rourke
Ray Winstone
50 Cent
Emmanuelle Chriqui (Sloan from Entourage)
Michael Shannon (Agent Nelson from Boardwalk Empire)
Alexander Skarsgård (Eric from True Blood)
David Zayas (Batista from Dexter, he replaced Ray Liotta)

So far the movie has been released in Argentina, Greece, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Estonia.

For those that have seen, and cherish, the original, stick with that one. This one doesn't really improve upon it, though I didn't find the protagonist as unintentionally funny this time around. You can tell this movie was written/directed by someone with a less than perfect grasp of the english language with somewhat jarring delivery from time to time, but it isn't horrible.

Entertaining though I must say it does feel like a Straight to Video feature film, and that will be its likely fate sometime next year.

^ is the movie on another region DVD/BLU or did u see it via other means?

Other means I'm sure, my buddy had bought it from a street vendor in NYC the other day, those things are never legit (plus it had no menu). No idea where it's actually sourced from though as I can't find any information on it online, but it definitely looked like a DVD.

Really weird actually. This many known actors in a movie that is in utter limbo.

this seems like a movie that Lions Gate would pick up on the cheap. make a few bucks by putting it in theaters, then take it to dvd/blu

that's where it belongs, imo, it was very STV quality. Entertaining, but it wasn't a theatrical release.