Chinese Remake of Blood Simple Won't Be That Simple

American remakes of foreign films have become so commonplace that even a statute of limitations barely exists anymore; Le Dîner de Cons -- the French film that Dinner for Schmucks was based on -- came out in 1998. So by those standards, Zhang Yimou's Chinese conversion of the Coen Brothers' Blood Simple -- A Woman, A Gun and a Noodle Shop -- feels positively warranted. After all, it has been 26 years since the original came out.

Yimou -- of House of Flying Daggers and Hero fame -- has reimagined the Coen Brothers first film in feudal China, which is a far cry from the seedy Texas town where most of the action in Blood Simple occurs. But the change of setting hasn't really affected all that much: There's still an affair, there's still an offer to commit murder, there's still a hole to be dug and there's still that Coen Bros. rat-a-tat-tat sense of humor. Couple that with the fact that Noodle Shop looks absolutely gorgeous and you have a remake worthy of the Oscar-winners. Of course why anyone needed a remake of Blood Simple remains to be seen, but better Yimou than some well-meaning-but-talentless first time director looking to make a splash.

VERDICT: Maybe.