Uh never seen Jow Ga kung fu have you? LOL it is just about the hardest combat style of Kung Fu there is (oriented not for grace but for deadly effect). It also incorporates throws breaks and locks that would make Coup De Vitesse come alive
As far as the books being shallow I kind of liked them, they do have an "overly evil" enemy but I also understand where the bad guys are coming from, and let's face it they do fit the Soviet style mentality very well.
Hell before I read a review that pointed out the Havenites were supposed to be French inspired I thought they were an analogy for Soviet Russia/Communist China.
And why do bad guys only have to have facial scars? I mean seriously this is something I don't get, what good guys who are injured in battle don't scar?
See that's why my character Rukia Fujita has a deep scar on her face to go against the "only bad guys scar" trend; then again some folks think the Icarans ARE bad so I guess that sort of sticks to the stereotype heh.
Anyway considering the books have gratuitous "Honor nude" scenes I think I could live with that in a movie.....especially with China Chow playing Honor muahahahahem ahem.
Anyway the battles if done well would certainly be something to see, on the ground we'd get one of the biggest gore fests in modern movie making, in space we'd get some of the most epic space battles WITH SOME of the gorriest "real life" representations of death in a warship thrown in.
I think it could come out quite well.