Shane Black’s “Play Dirty” will be hitting Prime Video on October 1. That’s a real shame. Would’ve loved to see Black’s pulp sensibilities on the big screen where they belong.
Regardless, a trailer has just been released. What do you think? I like Black, but this doesn’t look so good. Mark Wahlberg replaced original lead, and Black muse, Robert Downey Jr, and it was a downgrade. It could have been a “Kiss Kiss Bang” reunion. That’ll have to wait for another project.
Black’s last film was released seven years ago, and that was 2018’s “The Predator,” a disaster plagued by studio interference, reshoots, delays and an entire third act rewritten in the middle of production. He deserves his comeback vehicle, and “Play Dirty” looks somewhat promising.
“Play Dirty” revolves around a thief, Parker (Wahlberg) who gets a shot at a major heist where he must outsmart a South American dictator, the New York mob and the world’s richest man. The wonderful Lakeith Stanfield is set to play Grofield, a con artist.
The rest of the cast includes Rosa Salazar, Tony Shalhoub, Keegan-Michael Key, Nat Wolff, Chukwudi Iwuji and Thomas Jane.
The Parker character was actually first introduced in the 1962 novel “The Hunter,” and was featured in 23 other titles from author Donald E. Westlake. The character subsequently served as the basis for such films as “Parker”, “Payback” “Point Blank,” and 1973’s criminally underrated “The Outfit,” starring Robert DuVall.
Black started off his career as a 27-year-old whiz-kid screenwriter, writing the scripts for "Lethal Weapon," "The Last Boy Scout," "The Last Action Hero" and "The Long Kiss Goodnight." Black’s directing debut, 2005’s “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang,” has developed a cult following, ditto 2016’s “The Nice Guys.”