Mark Wahlberg and Jason Statham are two of the biggest action movie stars around in Hollywood. Both have made careers out of entertaining audiences as they punch, kick, shoot, or drive their way out of trouble. They’ve even collaborated once before, in 2003’s The Italian Job, but have since gone their separate ways.

In the two-plus decades since then, they’ve each found success in the action genre in similar ways. Wahlberg has done a big franchise with Transformers, but he’s not quite on Statham’s level of having The Meg, Fast & Furious, Expendables, and more series to explore. They’ve also done standalone, grounded thrillers, as well as some that are more comedic.

While many of their starring vehicles in the genre have done well, not all of them have been hits. Some are even failed franchise starters based on existing source material. And given Hollywood’s interest in IP, that’s now led to Wahlberg rebooting a character Statham played less than 15 years ago.

Wahlberg soon stars in Play Dirty as the skilled criminal Parker, a character used by author Donald E. Westlake in two dozen books. Several movies have been made based on these novels, including 2013’s Parker, starring Statham. That movie didn’t spawn a franchise, but Wahlberg’s might, considering how good it looks.

Play Dirty’s Trailer Makes Mark Wahlberg’s New Action Comedy Very Appealing

With the first Play Dirty trailer now out, it looks like Wahlberg has a potential hit on his hands. Prime Video debuted the first footage ahead of the movie’s release on October 1, and despite having only a month left to promote the film, this trailer did its job at getting me excited for what is in store.

With writer/director Shane Black behind the camera, Play Dirty resurrects the buddy action-comedy approach he does so well. This has been shown with hits like Lethal Weapon, as well as more recently with the 2016 gem The Nice Guys, starring Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe.

This new film looks more action than comedy, whereas The Nice Guys was more comedy than action, but that plays well to Wahlberg’s strengths. He can be quite funny, but he’s better suited for this type of action lead, which, it appears, allows Lakeith Stanfield to add to the humor.

That’s a big switch-up from Parker. The movie leaned heavily into action for Statham’s benefit, and he delivers on that front. But the rest of the surrounding movie didn’t fully work, which is why it didn’t land with critics or with audiences at the box office, killing any hope of a franchise beginning.

Wahlberg isn’t the same type of lead that Statham is, but that works in this case. Parker arguably took things too seriously and wasn’t fun enough. With the pairing of Wahlberg and Black, Play Dirty looks like a stark improvement on the last adaptation.

It helps that Play Dirty isn’t directly remaking the same book/story that Parker used. This one looks bigger in scope and has a more playful tone thanks to Black’s writing and direction.

The balance of humor and action will be key to Play Dirty delivering on its promise. If either part doesn’t work, the movie could underwhelm. Similarly, if Black fails to make characters who are smart, memorable, and unique, they could fall flat. Luckily, that’s a strength of his.

All in all, Mark Wahlberg could wind up being the guy to finally turn the Parker character into a franchise after Play Dirty, as long as the movie lives up to the excitement that this trailer creates.