REMO WILLIAMS' strong point has always been its weakness as well. "The Adventure Begins" the title tells us up front, and presents a tale devoted almost entirely to character origin and development. Whereas lesser films would have thrown in a training montage across three minutes of film, Remo's lasts ninety. And it's not even over. Never "ready" to be unleashed as the assassin he's meant to be, Remo Williams spends the entirety of the film under Chiun's tutelage, forced into action only by circumstance. Only in the final minutes does he seem ready to begin the life he has been designed for.

How does this affect the film? Well, it will feel downright slow for the Fast and Furious generation weaned on quick-cut, shallow films like XXX which speed along from one explosion to the next. For those of us who used to read way back when and enjoyed seeing these pulpy characters fleshed out onscreen - as well as those of us who dug Kung Fu Theatre on Sunday afternoons (check out KILL BILL Vol 2's "Cruel Tutelage of Pai Mai" sequence for the heavy influence of Chiun), it means this is a simultaneous delight and letdown (the latter only because, realistically, we know there will never be a sequel to continue this story).

My only other minor criticism of REMO WILLIAMS is its relatively bloodless onscreen presentation. Not that I'm looking for gore, but for an assassination film, this one is very tame. On the upside, one could feel very comfortable sharing this film with pre-teen action enthusiasts.

The REMO WILLIAMS DVD is a bare bones, full-screen affair, but at its bargain price, who can really complain? You know what you're getting and it looks better than a TV re-run. A deluxe edition DVD would be nice but this viewer isn't holding his breath.


I loved it   July 18, 2003
 13 out of 14 found this review helpful

I saw this in the theater when it came out and anxiously awaited the sequels. This is one movie where the sequel would have probably been a much better movie if for no other reason than actors and director would get into The Destroyer legend.

I loved the books at least up until Richard Sapir passed away. The books were fun, funny and contained much social satire. They were gems of wit and wisdom.

Basically it is about a cop recruited to be a supersecret agent for the government for an agency called CURE. The theory being that the President needed a tool to combat evil that could be fought only by violating the Constitution. Of course Presidents now boast about violating the constitution but these stories are from a more innocent age.

In the movie Fred Ward is perfectly cast as Remo Williams named in a very amusing way - "We put a lot of thought into it."
Joel Gray does a marvelous job of Chiun the Master of Sinanju the latest in a line of assasins dating back a millenia or two. Sinanju being the "sun source of all martial arts".

Wilford Brimly is probably the biggest departure from the books cast as Harold Smith. In the series Smith was a much more interesting character and the interplay between him and Remo is always entertaining.

Overall the plot was weak. Iw ould have rather had them adapt one of the many stories from the book series. I just never felt that Grove was that evil a guy worthy of accelerating Remo's mission. Patrick Kilpatrick was a great villan - muscle man "Stone". I particularly enjoyed the scene where Remo uses Stone's special feature to escape from a gas chamber.

The film was well structured I thought with equal amounts of Remo's training and mission, Joel Gray doing a wonderful Chiun, soap operas and all.

I thought it was a good first effort. Had they kept it up I am sure they would have gotten the hang of it and the movies gotten better and better.

I downrated the DVD mainly because of the format. so-called "fullscreen" is really only a half a screen. I did not buy the DVD just for that reason. I have an old copy on Betamax that I still watch twice a year or so.

There are no significant bonus features on the disk as was pointed out by a previous reviewer. This is just about inexcusable these days.

If my Beta tape ever weasr out I may be forced to buy a disk, but until then maybe MGM will get their heads out of you know where and re-release this movie properly.


4 Stars for the movie, 1 star for the DVD!   August 13, 2003
 13 out of 14 found this review helpful

I can't tell you how disappointed I was when Remo Williams FINALLY was released to DVD and MGM had the temerity to release it in FULL-FRAME (pan and scan) rather than widescreen in its original theatrical aspect ratio! It's 2003, MGM...people are savvier about film than they used to be, and we want to see our favorite films the way they were originally presented in the theater! I don't even demand "extras" like commentary or making-of documentaries...just a crisp transfer in anamorphic widescreen with enhanced sound. Is that so much to ask?

Four stars for the movie "Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins" - a wonderfully engaging '80s action-adventure flick that doesn't take itself too seriously, featuring terrific performances by Fred Ward and Joel Grey - and one star for the crummy presentation it received on DVD. Remo deserves so much better than this.


Depends on if you're a fan of the book or not.   April 26, 2001
 12 out of 13 found this review helpful

This film gets a lot of bad commentary by people who did not read the book series that it was based on. The.......... review has this problem as well. This movie was based on a series that currently has 123+ books in it. If you are a fan of the books, the character acting by Joel Grey and Fred Ward is pretty right on, not a political correctness faux pas as the review suggests. It was not stereotypical acting, but a near perfect depiction of a character whose personality has developed over the course of a 100+ books. Yes, the action scenes are a little lukewarm primarily because it was not really possible to depict the capabilities of the book characters with the technology of the time. If you are a Destroyer fan, you will most likely love this movie and the life it brings to Chuin and Remo, and even Harold Smith (although Wilford Brimley is a little too portly to be the gaunt, perfectly groomed Smith, although he accomplishes the lemonyness perfectly).


Remo is a fun film to escape to   July 20, 2004
 10 out of 12 found this review helpful

This film does not take itself seriously and you shouldn't either. Remo Williams is a lot of fun and it aspires to be nothing more than that which is great. Because of rising production costs, among other things, have forced studios to stay clear of movies that are made just for fun and focus on huge CGI effects blockbusters or long boring oscar winning dramas. All the easy going films that were so common in the 80's have gone away and it's a shame. Part of what makes Remo so great is that there is a complete lack of huge explotions, car wrecks, wire stunt action scenes, or CGI monsters. Remo spends more of its time dealing with the work of becoming a hero which, in this writer's opinion, is much more interesting.

I have never read the Destroyer series but you really don't have to to enjoy Remo. If you're looking for a giant action laced movie you may want to keep looking but if you are in the mood to see a fun, more grounded, how to become a hero, sort of film, Remo is perfect.