..Notice I prefaced that with ‘action’ Cinema..and ‘might’!
Not ‘Cinema’. Just ‘action’ stuff. As in the genre and its sub-genre and legacy. Regardless of whether or not we ever do, in fact, fill ‘movie theatres’ again (we will, do not panic). And MIGHT. As in it’s just a trailer.
That said? I mean, in short:
- This is visceral stuff. You FEEL the punches, powder burns, gun cock to shoulder, crash impact etc.
- Appeals, unashamedly, to the sense of wounded masculinity upon which the genre is dependent.
- Be it Straw Dogs or Die Hard or Taken: that motif of one man vs the elements, in service of a family, proving himself as protector. Action needs that hook. NOBODY has just that.
- And yet, this is in touch with zeitgeist. Our hero appears reluctant in his mission, at least at first. He answers to a wife and family. One gets a sense that there has been an attempt at conceding to social politics, whilst keeping a subconscious feel for his primal rage. A foot in the John Wick camp, perhaps?
- Fun. Lots and lots of FUN. WANTED meets True Lies via History of Violence? With a kind of 1980s /First Blood /Lethal Weapon aesthetic.
So, whilst I could be wrong? I think this a VERY promising start to a much needed genre resurgence. Like the sleeper hits of old that redefined blockbuster marketing, from nowhere.
Bob Odenkirk: action star? If that seems a stretch, they thought the same of Bruce Willis once..
