Howdy do, everyone, Papa Vinyard here.
Warner Bros. has released a trailer for the upcoming thriller, GETAWAY, starring Ethan Hawke as a race-car driver named Brent Magna (sounds like number 2 on Dirk Diggler's list of potential super-spy names) whose wife is kidnapped by some evil hombres, including what sounds like an accented Jon Voight. The hostage-takers demand some stuff from him that utilizes his skills behind the wheel, but a wrench gets thrown into the plan when a young girl, played by Selena Gomez, tries to jack his ride. There seems to be some crazy car stunts, and much of it seems practical, which is always a plus. The film could also provide both Hawke and Gomez with an opportunity to cement themselves as capable action leads. While Hawke has had a career resurgence of late, with BEFORE MIDNIGHT, SINISTER, and THE PURGE regaining some of his mainstream and arthouse cred, he hasn't had a role like this since at least 2009's DAYBREAKERS. I'm all for more Hawke-fronted actioners, and Gomez is certainly in pop culture's good graces after her surprisingly effective role in SPRING BREAKERS. Bruce Payne and Paul Freeman are also involved in this somehow, and if you're going to pepper your B-level action flick with character actors, those two are not a bad place to start.
The film was directed by Courtney Solomon, who is more prolific as a producer of recent lower-to-mid-budget action flicks like BULLET TO THE HEAD, DRAGON EYES, and the last two John Hyams-directed UNIVERSAL SOLDIER sequels, but, as a director, he's the one who locked down the sought-after DUNGEONS & DRAGONS gig back in 2000. While D&D and his other directorial effort, AN AMERICAN HAUNTING, don't necessarily inspire confidence in his helming skills, those action films I mentioned are cheap, tough, and memorable, so hopefully that producing experience translates to his work here.
GETAWAY will be released on August 30th.
-Vincent Zahedi
”Papa Vinyard”
vincentzahedi@gmail.com
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