The excellent, darkly funny comedy-thriller Riders of Justice is getting an English-language remake, courtesy of Lionsgate Studios. Yes, we are indeed talking about the film that was only released last year, from writer-director Anders Thomas Jensen and  starring the always-great Mads Mikkelsen. Why a remake so soon, you might ask?

Because Riders of Justice is a Danish-language film that will this time be done in English.

It brings to mind Bong Joon-ho’s quip upon receiving a Golden Globe for his masterpiece thriller, Parasite: “Once you overcome the one-inch tall barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films.” A shame really that instead of uplifting global cinema, Hollywood continues to co-opt non-English language films for their own profits – most recently, with Netflix’s Jake Gyllenhaal-starrer, The Guilty, itself a near scene-for-scene adaptation of the 2018 Danish film of the same name.

Bitterness aside for a moment, Riders of Justice’s original co-writers Jensen and Nikolaj Arcel will also write the English-language version of their “ageing man guns down everyone to avenge their family” film, about a war vet who returns home to care for his teenage daughter after his wife is killed in a tragic train accident – or so it seems, until a team of statistics experts claim foul play.

The adaptation will be produced by 21 Laps’ Shawn Levy, Dan Levine and Dan Cohen, who are still riding their Free Guy commercial and critical success. It’s still very early days on the production, so no word yet on who might be directing and starring in this version.

“There are few films that balance the action, emotion, and dark humour that Anders did so successfully in Riders of Justice,” said Lionsgate president of production, Erin Westerman. “We’re confident that the movie will translate perfectly to English-language audiences as well.”

For the love of Mikkelsen, can’t English-language audiences just ride over that subtitles barrier and give “foreign” films the justice they deserve?