So, when it was announced a couple of years ago or so that The Raid will be getting an American remake, fans and cinephiles collectively groaned. Why remake something that is still new and pretty much perfect? Why not just watch the original with subtitles (or without. Doesn’t matter as it’s mostly just ass-kicking)? Safe to say, nobody on earth was looking forward to the remake. However, in an interview with ComicBook.com, writer Adam Simon revealed that what was initially supposed to be a remake of The Raid, slowly morphed into its own unique beast, so much so that the title isn’t even The Raid, but Zeno. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOSji2fjYys When I started writing and sending pages over to Joe, it turned into something all it’s own. It became its own animal. Through that process, a story emerged. A tale about two brothers and an examination of why we can fight so viciously with the ones we care for most. It kept evolving that way from the first draft until the current draft we have now. Zeno is comparable to The Raid as Die Hard is to Dredd. Simon then went on to talk a little bit about the protagonist and his trajectory.
Now this is something I can get behind. Instead of telling the exact same story only in a different language, Zeno looks like it’s going to be a hard-hitting action banger in the same vein as The Raid but with a unique flavour as well as different characters and motivations. Simon said:
