Sinners 2025
Down only 5% week over week and past $100M. The hosts read it as word-of-mouth working and proof Ryan Coogler can now sell a movie on his name.
The Big Picture · Discussion · Review
Four Ways of Looking at an Action Movie: ‘The Accountant 2,’ ‘Havoc,’ ‘A Working Man,’ and ‘The Amateur’
April 28, 2025/ 82 min/ Sean Fennessey · Amanda Dobbins · Chris Ryan
Sean, Amanda, and Chris work through four action movies from the same few weeks: 'The Accountant 2,' 'Havoc,' 'A Working Man,' and 'The Amateur,' after an opening on the 'Sinners' box-office run and the 'Revenge of the Sith' re-release.
15 films across 6 segments.
AI-generated This episode was transcribed and analyzed with AI models. The matches aren't perfect — expect the occasional misheard title or a link to the wrong film.
Is moviegoing actually back?Sinners, a Sith re-release, and the case for events
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith 2005
The 20th-anniversary re-release made $25M. Sean calls it his favorite prequel while still not a great movie; Chris calls it a generational touchstone, a new hope for people now in their 20s and 30s.
One Battle After Another 2025
Floated as the next possible event movie: same studio conceit, a strong-vision filmmaker, and Leo, though nobody's seen it yet.
A Minecraft Movie 2025
Quietly closing on a billion dollars: roughly $800M in three weeks, a number Sean once nearly skipped covering.
‘The Accountant 2’Rain Man meets Commando
The Accountant 2 2025
Gavin O'Connor and Ben Affleck's sequel, with Jon Bernthal as lethal brother Brax; Affleck's company and Amazon MGM produced. Sean found it one of the most convoluted mainstream movies in a while: a buddy comedy that lurches into a Juarez human-trafficking plot, plus a savant assassin and a hacker army of neurodivergent kids in Hanover. Shot by Seamus McGarvey; a soft recommend as a 'five o'clock-er.'
The Accountant 2016
The 2016 O'Connor/Affleck original: an autistic forensic accountant who's also a trained killer. A surprise hit that became a dad-action cable staple.
‘Havoc’28 minutes of Gareth Evans at full tilt
Havoc 2025
Gareth Evans's Tom Hardy crime movie on Netflix, in development since roughly 2021. Chris calls the first 45 minutes ChatGPT writing a Gangs of London episode, then loses his mind over the Gaspar-noise nightclav set piece and a house fight that ends with a triad shot by a harpoon. Sean: subpar except for 28 ecstatic minutes.
‘A Working Man’the classical Statham vehicle
A Working Man 2025
David Ayer directs, script co-written with Sylvester Stallone from Chuck Dixon's novel 'Levon's Trade.' Statham as an ex-British special-ops foreman in Chicago whose boss's daughter is taken by the Russian mob. David Harbour plays a blind ex-SEAL. Solid but straight. The hosts missed the deranged energy of 'The Beekeeper' and landed on 'pretty boring.'
‘The Amateur’68% there, and it's the last 32 that matters
The Amateur 2025
James Hawes directs Rami Malek as a CIA tech operative avenging his wife (Rachel Brosnahan) after a London attack. A deep cast: Caitríona Balfe, Michael Stuhlbarg, Holt McCallany, Julianne Nicholson, Laurence Fishburne. Sean's core complaint: it needs a movie star at its center, not a number two; he'd have cast Andrew Garfield or Ben Whishaw. Set pieces (the glass pool) are strong; the whole was given away in the trailer.
Where action stands, plus a news lapMiami Vice, Fountain of Youth, and a Memorial Day pileup
Miami Vice 2006
A Joseph Kosinski-directed remake, Dan Gilroy scripting, was just announced without Michael Mann. Chris defends the 2006 Mann film as the superior product and stays conspicuously muted about the reboot.
Fountain of Youth 2025
Guy Ritchie's national-treasure-style adventure with John Krasinski and Natalie Portman, headed straight to Apple TV+. The table can't understand why a reported ~$300M movie is skipping theaters.
F1 2025
Counted among the coming tentpole action movies; Chris is sold on the footage and wants IMAX.
Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning 2025
Sean, a self-described Mission Impossible believer, is guarding against overexposure before opening night, and wonders whether it comes in second on Memorial Day weekend.
Lilo & Stitch 2025
The live-action remake tracking north of $100M, likely to outgross 'The Final Reckoning' on the same weekend: the kid market beating the grownup market.
Hurry Up Tomorrow 2025
The Weeknd film; Chris will probably check it out, still nursing goodwill from 'The Idol.'
Also mentioned raised along the way
Reference points for the moviegoing moment Get OutInceptionGravityBarbieOppenheimerSuperbadInterstellar2001: A Space OdysseyStar WarsAnora28 Years LaterJurassic World Rebirth
The Accountant 2's touchstones Rain ManCommandoGood Will HuntingRed Notice
Havoc and A Working Man's lineage The RaidBlack BagThunderboltsThe BeekeeperMan on FireMad Max: Fury RoadThe SearchersSound of Freedom
The Amateur's spy-revenge cousins NobodyLove HurtsJohn WickBallerina
The Lord of the Rings detour The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the RingThe Lord of the Rings: The Two TowersThe Lord of the Rings: The Return of the KingInfinity Pool
In the news, in passing Guy Ritchie's The CovenantWrath of ManThe Ministry of Ungentlemanly WarfareThe Electric StateThe SacramentGhidorah, the Three-Headed MonsterConclaveNyadMission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part OneThe Rules of the GameMalcolm XArmageddon
Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads
TV SeveranceGangs of LondonMobLandReacherSpecial Ops: LionessAndorThe Last of UsMr. RobotThe RehearsalThe IdolThe CompanySecret InvasionWacoThe Sandbaggers
Ads TremfyaWells Fargo Autograph JourneyAmazon PrimeState FarmAccentureWhole FoodsThe Zach Lowe Show