Highland Film Group is proudly unveiling a first look at Spectre actor Christoph Waltz and Cooper Hoffman of Licorice Pizza in Old Guy, the new action comedy from director Simon West. Hoffman joined Shazam! Fury of the Gods actress Lucy Liu in casting announcements on Friday for the film which recently wrapped in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Christoph Waltz (No Time to Die, Big Eyes, Inglourious Basterds) is set to star in Old Guy, a new action comedy from director Simon West (The Expendables 2, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, The Mechanic). Highland Film Group is co-financing and handling worldwide rights on the pic at this year’s EFM, with cameras looking to roll in early 2023 in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Simon West’s latest stake in big scale action and spectacle has finally arrived with VOD release date for the explosive survival thriller, Skyfire. Screen Media acquired the pic back in October and has just unveiled the official trailer, with plans to release the film exclusively on-Demand from Janaury 12.
Currently while offsetting his latest entry in the Mojin franchise, fans can expect more of Simon West out of China with the kind of spectacular footage currently seen in the new Skyfire teaser.
Director Simon West has been more than busy over in China, co-helming on one title and solo directing another – the latter, Skyfire, hailing from Meridian Entertainment and Base Media. The five year endeavor which wrapped late last year was written by Sidney King and stars Hannah Quinlivan (Skyscraper) as a young geologist who finds herself in a race against time to save her family from a volcanic island in the South China Sea on the brink of deadly eruption.
The first official artwork for The Legend Hunters has arrived, directed by Li Yi Fan and Simon West. It’s the project formerly known as Mojin X – the big giveaway being it stars Celina Jade as reported last October.
It was last October when word got around that Simon West (The Expendables 2, Gun Shy), wrapped his first Chinese feature film after five years of development. That project now arrives with the first piece of artwork for upcoming disaster thriller, Skyfire, produced and financed by Meridian Entertainment and Base Media.
This year marks the twentieth anniversary of Con Air, a roller-coaster of an action movie starring Nicolas Cage and the debut film of director Simon West. Like fellow action maestros Michael Bay and Antione Fuqua, West worked his way through the ranks at Propaganda Films making award winning music videos and commercials. As a feature filmmaker, he’s directed everything from the surprisingly solid Tomb Raider (starring Angelina Jolie at the height of her fame) to Expendables 2 (the best film in the franchise) as well as TV shows like Human Target.
Since his 1997 debut film, Con Air, Simon West has been a solid B+ action filmmaker. Over the last twenty years, he’s directed ten feature films ranging from the surprisingly decent (for its day) video game adaption Tomb Raider (2001) to the Jason Statham remake of The Mechanic (2011). He’s responsible for the best film in the Expendables franchise (Expendables 2), though that’s not exactly high praise. But over the last five years, the kinds of films that West specializes in have fallen out of fashion and into the DTV realm. There are plenty of talented directors in the DTV space making solid and occassionally spectacular action films, does West have what it takes to join their ranks?
John Stratton (Dominic Cooper) is the leader of an elite team of British anti-terrorists. After his team is betrayed on a mission, their token American is killed and Stratton barely survives. Now, he must track down the terrorist leader Grigory Barovsky (Thomas Kretschmann) and uncover the mole within his organization.
Stratton is an action film that is competently produced but is completely devoid of creativity, originality, or heart. If you’ve seen more than five espionage actioners in your lifetime, then you’ve seen everything this film has to offer but better. Even the film’s title, Stratton, speaks to its lack of creative inspiration. It should go without saying that John Stratton is NOT John Wick, he is nowhere near as iconic enough to warrant an entire movie named after him. Any number of silly, generic action movie titles would have served it better.
Dominic Cooper is a charismatic actor, no doubt, but he doesn’t get many opportunities to show it with the character of Stratton. He, along with his costars, is saddled with a script that barely gives them anything to do or give the viewer any reason to care about them. Connie Nielson, who recently wowed us in Wonder Woman, is stuck in autopilot as Stratton’s superior. She gets all the usual character quirks as the badass boss who struggles to control the super-awesome action guy in her unit. Worst of all is Kretschmann as the film’s main badguy, Barovsky. Feeling more like a henchman who got a lucky promotion than a man who is universally feared, he’s the kind of villain that you know is evil because a character in the movie TELLS you he is. Barovsky has very little presence and, though he does get to do the occassional badguy stuff, never really makes an impression or poses a real threat.
We’re a long way from a long-haired Nicolas Cage saying “put the bunny down”. The best of Simon West’s filmography had a weirdness to it that cut through the often formulaic scripts he was given. This film has no such weirdness, so it falls to the action to make it worthwhile. As is usually the case for his films, the action in Stratton is generally well executed and clearly shot with a few impressive stunts sprinkled throughout. Unfortunately, nothing you will see here will surprise or amaze; it’s all things you’ve seen before in bigger, better films. What the filmmakers were able to accomplish with their modest budget is admirable, but their approach to action needed to be more creative to make it exciting.
Sadly, without the grand scale and larger than life stars that 90s era actioners are known for, movies like Stratton just aren’t very entertaining. It’s not exactly a bad movie, but it’s also not a very good one either. In a world where DTV action is defined by the likes of John Hyams and Isaac Florentine, directors like West need to put in the work to really compete. 20 years ago, he directed the third best movie in the Nic Cage action trilogy (The Rock, Face / Off, and Con Air), but today he’s making C+ actioners like Stratton.
Actor Dominic Cooper’s feasibility as an action star is something I wouldn’t have suspected, as unassuming as he is. Then again, recent years have shown that filmmakers can make anyone an action star and the outcome depends on how the filmmaker in question applies the necessary methods for doing so. Some are pretty lackluster in this effort while others do manage to keep things well knit and lensed in the process and this, on top of of a tight script, good drama and pacing can certainly do a film justice.
Stratton achieves this, albeit measuring about as far in its spectacle as you would presume to believe a limited theatrical and VoD run would allow. The bright side is that it largely maintains itself for worthy viewing with action fans, providing an otherwise refreshing and watchable espionage thriller from top to bottom. Taken from the published work of pennamed author Duncan Falconer, Cooper plays Stratton, a member of the British SBS who is forced to come to terms with a new partner after a botched operation in Iran. Stark revelations arise as Stratton and his team learn of the emergence of a former FSB operative-cum-terrorist thought to be dead, an airborne pathogen in his possession along with several drones, and a traitor in their midst working both sides.
Cooper surprisingly holds up very well in the title role, offering a flexibly stern and forthright personality to the character. His unassuming build lends an enriching take on action movie hero stereotypes – something slightly different from today’s bulked up Man Of Steel, the prolific Henry Cavill who left the film just several days before cameras were set to roll in 2015. The air of hero sympathy the film attempts to harness isn’t a wasted effort as we meet the roles of Marty, played by Tyler Hoechlin, and actor Austin Stowell’s Hank whose intentions almost instantly are the center of Stratton’s apprehension.
Gemma Chan provides one of the strongest performances of the film as team member, Aggy, whose chemistry with Stratton is approached with tact and poise in the course of the neccessary move for an action thriller that’s almost always moving. The crux of the story is provided by Thomas Kretschmann, no stranger to villainous or mysterious roles an accordingly, never disappoints. The action is well balanced, heavy on gun battles, explosions and vehicular demolition, with moments added in between that add further to the danger and suspense. Save for a knife fight in the third act, the editing is heavy with the action scenes, but made substantive with the aid of stable cinematography that won’t agitate viewers.
Stratton is no Bourne in terms of audience and appeal, and that’s partly and probably a good thing in some ways. West doesn’t cock up what works in an action film, thus making him as notable as he’s grown over the years having directed hits like signature 90s actioner, Con Air, and recent thrillers such as Wild Card and The Expendables 2.
Come to think of it, he probably would have done a much better job with 2016’s Jason Bourne, which, under Greengrass, nauseated me. With West’s Stratton and Dominic proving a worthy substitute for Cavill, while I’m neither here nor there on a sequel, I wouldn’t protest one, and the appeal is definitely there for one, methinks.
Based on the novel series of the same name, STRATTON is directed by Simon West (The Expendables 2, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider) and stars Dominic Cooper (Captain America: The First Avenger, Need for Speed), Austin Stowell (Whiplash, Colossal), Gemma Chan (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Submarine), Thomas Kretschmann (Jungle, King Kong), Tyler Hoechlin (“Teen Wolf,” Everybody Wants Some!!), with Tom Felton (Harry Potter series) and Connie Nielsen (Wonder Woman, Gladiator) and Derek Jacobi (Murder on the Orient Express, The King’s Speech).
Rounding out the cast are Ben Cura, Mark Valley, Aisling Loftus, David Mitchell, Jeremy Swift, and Jesse Johnson from a script by Smith and co-scribe Toby Davies. The film opens in limited theaters and on VoD September 8.
What was once slated to be a Henry Cavill action vehicle has since aligned its essentials together with AMC series Preacher star Dominic Cooper front and center for the title role of upcoming action thriller, Stratton. Vertigo will be doling out the film in the U.K. in the coming weeks with a September 1 date stamped and as such, now has its first official U.K. trailer running to help stir anticipation for the new Simon West film based on the work of pennamed author Duncan Falconer.
Whilst on a mission targeting a laboratory manufacturing biochemical weapons in Iran, Stratton (Cooper), a determined and dedicated SBS operative working alongside MI5, and his US counterpart, Navy Seal Marty (Tyler Hoechlin) discover that their operation has been compromised and must escape. In the mayhem that follows, the mission goes spectacularly wrong and Marty is mortally wounded.Back at base Stratton is summoned by the big boss at MI6. She has received intel that a former Soviet operative – Barovski – has gone rogue.
Thought to be dead for the last 20 years, it is believed Barovski has plans to take revenge on his former paymasters by using stolen chemical weapons. From here on in, Stratton and his team must draw on all their training and experience to race against time and stop the unimaginable happening.
Also starring are Austin Stowell, Gemma Chan and Thomas Kretschmann. Enjoy the trailer below!
“The popularity of the fantasy genre around the globe continues to grow and the fierce world of ‘War Wolf’ is an electric story,” said Fortitude’s Nadine de Barros. “Under the masterful direction of Simon West and the brilliant team of Dave and Lou Elsey behind the special effects makeup, this film is going to blow people away with both the look of this fantastical world and the intense storytelling.”
Man Of Steel star Henry Cavill is holding out for a sequel to the aforementioned film amid the line-up Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment have going ahead of next year’s release of Batman V. Superman: Dawn Of Justice. In the meantime, one other property Cavill was developing under his Promethean Productions banner was the British SAS actioner, Stratton, based on the work of pennamed author Duncan Falconer, up until Cavill reportedly parted ways from potentially starring as the title character back in May.
Production, however, has since remained on schedule with The Expendables helmer Simon West tapped to direct beginning July 15 in Italy and the U.K. thereafter, and with the clock counting down until then, word has it from Deadline that Need For Speed and Fleming: The Man Who Would Be Bond star, actor Dominic Cooper is now tapped to lead instead. Falconer, formerly military himself, launched the original eight-part literary series in 2003 from which the film will be based, aimed at following the story of SBS commando and Northern-Ireland intelligence operative John Stratton as he and his team set out to eliminate an international terrorist cell.
SYNOPSIS:
Fiercely independent SBS agent Stratton is a good soldier – to a fault. Part of a special service team deployed in Kazakhstan on the tail of international terrorists, Gandapur and Pinskov, Stratton risks life, limb and even national security to do what he thinks is right.
Fighting with him is Aggy, his on-again-off-again love interest, a tomboy desperate to prove herself as a soldier and break through Stratton’s emotional armour to the good man she can see underneath. Hamdi is alongside them – a second-generation migrant and good friend of Aggy’s, he has a charm and poise quite different to Stratton’s straightforward soldiering. This very British team is joined by Hank, a young US navy Seal also looking to prove himself on the front line.
Their hunt for the enemy brings them unexpectedly deep into the heart of Europe and ever closer to home. In Rome they follow hot on the heels of Italian criminal Bascanti, a man who turns out to be at the centre of international terrorism, masterminding a terrorist attack on London.
When Stratton is captured by Bascanti’s henchmen he uncovers a mole within his team and his already chaotic reality is thrown even further into turmoil. With the enemy lurking around every corner, time is running out for Stratton. Who can he trust? Is it already too late?
Whiplash co-star, actor Austin Stowall in the role of Hank Munroe, a U.S. Navy Seal Lieutenant who joins Stratton on his harrowing mission with Gemma Chan, Tyler Hoechlin, Tom Felton, Thomas Kretschmann, Derek Jacobi, Connie Nielsen and Jake Fairbrother rounding out the cast. Cooper is also set to appear in AMC’s television adaptation of the hit comic book, Preacher, in addition to reprising his role as Howard Stark in the next season of Agent Carter premiering next year.
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