Josh Duhamel has reteamed with director Allan Ungar for another mix of thrills and comedy with London Calling. Co-written and directed by the Bandit filmmaker, the movie stars Duhamel as Tommy Ward, a hitman forced to flee back to the United States after a job gone wrong in the United Kingdom, and is subsequently tasked with mentoring the awkward son of a local crime boss in the hopes of seeing his own family again. Alongside Duhamel, the ensemble London Calling cast includes IT alum Jeremy Ray Taylor, Suits vet Rick Hoffman and Game of Thrones vet Aidan Gillen.

Following its premiere at 2024’s Toronto International Film Festival, and ahead of its September 19 release, Quiver Distribution has unveiled the first London Calling trailer. The video introduces viewers to Tommy, Duhamel’s down-on-his-luck-yet-charming hitman, and Julian, Taylor’s well-meaning-yet-clumsy crime boss son, and some of the misadventures in their journey of Tommy teaching Julian “how to be a man“, including how to shoot, how to interrogate enemies, and even how to fight, while also teasing Gillen’s UK crime boss, Freddy Darby, on the hunt for the former. Check out the trailer below:

What The London Calling Trailer Means For The Movie

Duhamel Could Have Another Hit On His Hands

While there are a number of movies about a hardened man being tasked with training a seemingly weaker teenager on how to become a more self-reliant person, the London Calling trailer showcases a unique new angle in the form of Tommy training Julian on how to be a hitman. There have been some films in the past to showcase how an ᴀssᴀssin is raised to their modern-day selves, but none in the format of a buddy comedy, particularly one in which one of said main characters is considering leaving the life behind altogether.

More than just a fresh take on a classic concept, though, London Calling has the opportunity to deliver both Duhamel and Ungar another major hit. The duo’s prior work on the 2022 biographical crime comedy Bandit not only saw Duhamel’s best reviews as a leading man, but was also a hit on digital platforms, with Redbox revealing it to have been the most-watched original тιтle of its release year. Check out how Bandit compares to Duhamel’s highest-rated films on Rotten Tomatoes in the chart below:

In just looking at comparisons between their work on Bandit and their new film, however, it does seem clear that Duhamel and Ungar are striving for a bigger go-round in London Calling. Where the 2022 film had the occasional setpiece, they were more from the heist genre tone than that of an action-thriller, and with the explosions, slow-motion sequences and hand-to-hand combat on display in the trailer above, it does feel like they were eager to up the ante in their reunion.

Our Take On The London Calling Trailer

Looks Like Another Crowdpleasing, Energetic Ride From The Pair

When Bandit came out in 2022, it truly was a welcome surprise as Duhamel turned in arguably the best performance of his career, while Ungar also quickly became a name I was keen to look for future projects from. As such, the prospect of a reunion between the pair was already an exciting one, and London Calling‘s trailer certainly looks to be delivering much of what I, and those who enjoyed their prior collaboration, want to see from the pair, that being an energetic thrill ride that also has an emotional center to its action.

Source: Quiver Distribution