Why would they even need Remo


I mean Chiun can do things nobody can do so why would they even need to find him a student anyway? True Chiun was old but he had to have been quite healthy.

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Chiun was a cool guy, but he was a Korean. From the "axis of evil" if we believe George Bush. Maybe they wanted Remo because he was white, so he could better infiltrate white baddies.

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[deleted]

Did you stop reading silver surfer's post after the first sentence?

A "white guy" would be better able to infiltrate white groups.

Sure, all you said about South Korea and such is basically true, but if you were a contractor working on secret stuff (and cheating)--maybe you'd get a little nervous being confronted by a person with Asian features.

Remo was perfect to fool Captain Janeway.

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Actually if you read the Books, Shinanju (where chuin is from, and the name of his Martial art) is in North Korea near the chinese Border.

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Uhhh south Korea has always been our ally.

Read a book.

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In response to your original question, Chiun was, as you note, OLD. While he might be capable of living for a long time, he might die at any point and his skills with him. So why would you not train one or more successors? Further, just because he CAN do all those things does not mean it doesn't cost him more than it would a younger man, or that he'll recover from whatever damages result as quickly as a younger man with the same skill set.

Further, and much, much more obvious, people are going to cheer on a man in his prime a lot more than an old but very spry man. They can identify with a young man as an action hero a lot more, it fits their expectations.

And finally, the movie is based on a fairly successful series of books
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remo_Williams
and if you didn't have Remo, it wouldn't be the an adaptation of the book series, now, would it?


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What happened to the other successors? He did have them, right? I am not very familiar with the Destroyer novels, though I would very much like to get started reading them! Maybe via e-book... Hmmm.

I think though otherwise it might be too easy, and he'd find it a bore (so would we). So, that'd be no fun. But he was also being realistic and not having something of a death wish I suppose.

There's a slogan written here. 'Happiness Will Walk Away'...

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He had Nuihc who is one of their recurring villains.

"Importance, necessity, value, purpose... all the human lies!"

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In response to the original post.

Chiun wasn't an on staff assassin or a member of CURE. He was only contracted to teach a recruit the art of Sinanju. So that's why they need Remo and why Chiun only acts to save Remo's butt and not to further a mission.

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I have not seen the movie, but am a big fan of the books. Based on the books, I can attempt to answer the OP's question, but allow me to explain a rough background of the books first:

Sinanju is a village in the current North Korea which has become famous for producing assassins for hundreds (thousands?) of years. The martial art of Sinanju is the root of all other martial arts, such as ninjitsu, karate, ju jitsu, etc. Very few people know this, only the really top practitioners of these arts might have heard rumours to the effect. Sinanju focuses on the art of assassins, and teaches mastery of weapons as an aside, as well as other skills such as disguise, seduction, diet, movement, art, etc. A typical Sinanju exercise is to run over wet toilet paper without causing it to crease. A master of Sinanju does not appear to be dangerous, and Remo is in fact described to be built much like a tennis player, only with thicker wrists.

President Kennedy formed the organisation called CURE as it became known that the US Constitution needs help to combat various criminal and evil doers as the justice system tends to get bogged down. This organisation is funded secretly, and has huge infrastructure in the form of supercomputers scanning all sorts of things and uninformed minions beavering away. CURE is headed by Harold Smith, a completely honourable man without any imagination or humour who often is described as being "lemony". The organisation is extremely secret and "does not exist" in order for it to disappear should knowledge of it's existence ever become a threat, as the weakness in the constitution cannot be acknowledged. Part of the disappearance of CURE includes the suicide of Smith.

Chuin is the current master of Sinanju, and his duty is to hire his services out in order to support the village of Sinanju. He only accepts payment in gold, and from the highest bidder which in today's society probably would be the US Government. There are possible political overtones should it become known that the US Government is sponsoring a village in N.Korea, as well as admitting to the deficiencies of the US Constitution.

CURE is tasked to take out any person above the law, which the organisation's supercomputers analyse to be a problem and Harold Smith identifies. Thus, in order to keep the executive arm as small as possible, only one person is tasked with assassinating the bad guys. Yes, Chuin is more than capable of doing this. However, it seems to be apparent to him that the fact that the organisation needs to be able to disappear includes the need for him to die (thus leaving his village without a source of income). So he styles himself as an ignoramus who does not understand the entire concept and can therefore be left alive. Remo Williams is required, because he is thought to be the only person who can learn the skills required as a perfect assassin as well as presumably having the drive to fulfil the duties in an understanding patriotic spirit, which means that he cannot be left alive should the organisation need to fold because he understands why the organisation needed to exist. In this regard, Chuin's final instruction is to kill his protégé, Remo Williams.

So, Chuin is tasked to teach Remo the skills of Sinanju and kill Remo, should that become necessary once CURE has to disappear. Of course, Chuin knows exactly what is going on but as part of his disguise plays along. Initially, his relationship with Remo is one of master/student, but eventually becomes one of father/son and an acknowledgement of Remo as a reincarnation of Shiva, the Destroyer. This means of course that Chuin may have a problem or two with his final instruction, which is part of the ongoing joke.

Again, I have not seen the movie, but I presume this is what the movie should have portrayed. Am I correct?

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They don't tell you that much about CURE or Chiun in the movie explicitly but yeah, that's the jist of it. There's also another CURE agent in the movie, Macleary, who seems to have military ties. Is he from the book also? In the movie, Remo doesn't really get to Shiva level and at the end there are still things Chiun can do that Remo can't, such as being able to run fast enough to skip across the surface of water without sinking.

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Perhaps this is because Remo has not yet had to try -- remember he did manage to get across that wet concrete, while his pursuer immediately sank....

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Yeah, Conn Macleary is in the books,..but only the first one (he does make a appearance in a few more, but as a flashback)
However, in the book, he's not a well-spoken, fashionably dressed black man with a prosthetic arm...he's more like R. Lee Ermy in Columbo's coat with a hook where his right (?) hand use to be. He's a former C.I.A. spook (like Smith) who "recruits" Remo. He's also a notorious drunk, with a penchant for swearing a blue streak when the mood strikes him.
No Remo doesn't achieve "Shiva level" in the movie because that part wasn't touched on in the earlier books. It wasn't even touched on in the TV pilot (which was based on the short story The Day Remo Died. Supposedly it was going to be had the planned sequels came about, or the pilot was picked up by the networks.
As for why bring Remo in at all? Well that was answered in the early books...unlike Chuin, Remo is a patriot. Chuin, like the Masters before him, is in it for the gold which helps feed his village. Remo, however, is in it for the good old Red White and Blue.
Simple as that.

D. v~~v

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You've got to watch the movie.
I have been slacking, but out of the first 125 books, I think I have 112 of them.
The movie is, of course, not true to Created The Destroyer, but the movie is fun, and Joel Grey as Chiun is $*&%ing awesome.
Advice, though: Don't start the sequel series. If it was a series--I could not even make it through the first book.
Hope you enjoy the flick.

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Prior to Remo joining, there were only three members in CURE; and they were all reaching senior status. Perhaps they wanted someone young and skillful to accomplish greater success and carry on their legacy.

"...sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.” ~ Cool Hand Luke

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Actually, there were 2 members, Smith (information) and McCleary (out of office leg work). They found they needed an "enforcement arm" to be able to really achieve what CURE was created for. Chiun was hired by McCleary (because he had run into him during his time with the CIA) to train Remo in martial arts so that they would have their own permanent expert. Chiun was originally planning on teaching him a few "tricks", take their money and go home.

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Read the books. It is explained.

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In addition to the other replies, by the books, Chiun wasn't even going to train Remo. He didn't want to work for the white men. When he heard that Remo had "died", he believed that Remo was the prophecied reincarnation of Shiva the Destroyer, that was destined to be trained. So Chiun would not have agreed to be their agent.

To Love and win is the best thing. To Love and lose, the next best.

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Chun was too valuable as a teacher to risk on missions. He came after Remo on his own accord because he cared what happened to him. Although he would not admit it.

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