Merrick again...

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!

IESB reports that Len Wiseman is in talks to direct both GEARS OF WAR and the ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK remake for New Line. You can read the original IESB report HERE!

Regular AICN readers may recall my (surprisingly) favorable review of Ken Nolan's ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK remake script, which you can access HERE. In that review, I strongly suggested this project required a director who understood both subtext and uncompromising grit. In my opinion, Wiseman has demonstrated an understanding of neither.

I found his UNDERWORLD films to be slick, but sloppy, and heartless...and LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD to be meandering and tepid. I know some folks ended up (somewhat unexpectedly) cutting him slack for DIE HARD this Summer. Personally, I thought little about the film worked. It bored me, and I am a huge DIE HARD fan. McClane didn't feel like McClane, and the "crisis" was too decentralized and uninvolvingly (that's probably not a word) presented to seem either frightening or urgent.

As for GEARS OF WAR? I haven't read Stuart Beattie's screenplay so I can't comment on whether or not Wiseman is a good fit for the project. My son plays the game religiously, however - it's an aesthetically dense, intensely designed, supremely violent actioner that might actually match Mr. Wiseman's sensibilities rather well.

More info as more become available.