I don’t know how many of you were old enough to see/cared to bother with BEHIND ENEMY LINES back in 2001, but I found it to be a pretty damn efficient thriller with a handful of crazy-thrilling action beats. One thing that was really cool about the movie was how it reappropriated Owen Wilson’s Texas-slacker attitude into that of an action lead, making you empathize with the hero more than you would if he was played by, say, John Cena or Jason Statham.
So while some may immediately write off this action flick with Wilson in the lead (as an American tourist trying to protect his family from an armed conflict in Southeast Asia), I’m totally okay with it. I don’t let my memories of him smiling and “charming” his way through stuff like HOW DO YOU KNOW and NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM make me forget that he can play it straight just fine, and even create a relatability that some legit action heroes find impossible to achieve.
Sure, there are shades of THE IMPOSSIBLE and CAPTAIN PHILIPS here, and writing/producing/directing duo Drew and John Erick Dowdle haven’t exactly won over legions of loyal fanboys with QUARANTINE or AS ABOVE, SO BELOW, but this trailer does show potential. The stakes are high, the production values look legit, and you have no less than ex-Bond Pierce Brosnan backing Wilson up (as well as Lake Bell as his wife).
Wilson turned in one of his best performances in years as the out-there saxophonist in INHERENT VICE, and I’m really pulling for him in this one. It’s always nice to see these pigeonholed actors stretching his wings a little bit; I’m really hoping Wilson’s WEDDING CRASHERS co-star Vince Vaughn is kicking off a similar deviation from the norm with his upcoming role in TRUE DETECTIVE Season 2.
NO ESCAPE from the release of this movie on September 2nd.
