Is the “Jason Bourne” franchise dead in the water? The film eventually did good business overall ($442 million worldwide), but there’s no denying that the series was met with a lukewarm response in North America. Matt Damon is 46 years old so maybe it’s time to put that character to bed soon. Maybe? Either way, with ‘Bourne’ sidelined, for now, every studio wants to fill in that slot and start a new franchise (“John Wick” is doing pretty well so far). But maybe they should start ‘em, really young? That might be the thinking with “American Assassin” series.
Produced by Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Nick Wechsler and based on the American Assassin novel in the Mitch Rapp series by Vince Flynn, the movie looks to transform the 25-year-old “Maze Runner” and Teen Wolf” star Dylan O’Brien into a bonafide, bearded, stone-cold action killer. Here’s the official synopsis:
AMERICAN ASSASSIN follows the rise of Mitch Rapp (Dylan O’Brien) a CIA black ops recruit under the instruction of Cold War veteran Stan Hurley (Michael Keaton). The pair is then enlisted by CIA Deputy Director Irene Kennedy (Sanaa Lathan) to investigate a wave of apparently random attacks on both military and civilian targets. Together the three discover a pattern in the violence leading them to a joint mission with a lethal Turkish agent (Shiva Negar) to stop a mysterious operative (Taylor Kitsch) intent on starting a World War in the Middle East.
Starring Dylan O’Brien, Michael Keaton, Sanaa Lathan, Taylor Kitsch, Shiva Negar, Scott Adkins and directed by Michael Cuesta (“L.I.E.,” “Kill The Messenger”), CBS Films and Lionsgate will release “American Assassin” in theaters September 15, 2017. Thoughts? Can O’Brien make the transition? Weigh in below and let us know what you think of the trailer.
