When the Wright brothers first envisioned human flight, we can be certain they never quite envisioned an assassin played by Josh Hartnett being trapped in a plane full of other deadly killers, 37,000 feet in the air. After playing Cooper Abbott, a serial killer, a.k.a. “The Butcher,” in M. Night Shyamalan’s thriller film Trap, in 2024. Harnett returns for a bit more violence, this time as an assassin in the action thriller, Fight or Flight. Ahead of the film’s anticipated release later this year in February, an action-packed trailer has been released, showing Harnett’s assassin mowing through several assailants several thousand feet in the air.
Having swapped his familiar dark hair for a new look, the trailer for Fight or Flight sees Hartnett taking the lead as a somewhat down-on-his-luck assassin, who finds himself tasked with protecting a target. After a fair bit of convincing, Harnett’s assassin takes on the assignment, which from all indications was supposed to be a fairly easy and straightforward gig. However, he wasn’t counting on being trapped on a plane transporting him and his asset, with various other assassins who have been given the task of killing them off.
Hartnett Is Still Very Much Dedicated to Action
Taking a look at the work done in the trailer, it is clear that Hartnett is quite comfortable getting physical in his films — Fight or Flight is far from the actor’s first action role. Hartnett has played roles in Wrath of Man and Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre alongside action star Jason Statham. Hartnett has clearly taken his role in the new thriller quite seriously, revealing to Collider in August 2024 that he had performed his own stunts in the upcoming film, saying:
“I’ve got a film coming out called Fight or Flight, where I do my own stunts. I’m 46. I was 45 when I shot it. It’s different from when you’re in your twenties. We had a very long shot in that film where I am fighting an enormous amount of bad guys on a plane, in a close-counter environment, and using things off the plane to fight them. You just don’t recover the way you used to, you know? So, I found that to be the toughest physical thing I’ve ever had to do.”
Besides Hartnett, the cast for the action thriller also includes Charithra Chandran (Bridgerton), Julian Kostov (Shadow and Bone), Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Galactica) and Marko Zaror (John Wick: Chapter 4). Fight or Flight is directed by James Madigan (Runaways) from a screenplay by Brooks McLaren and D.J. Cotrona.
Hartnett’s upcoming film Fight or Flight will be released in February 2025. His latest feature, Trap, is streaming on Max.
Trap is a film by writer-director M. Night Shyamalan under his Blinding Edge Pictures label. The film is part of a deal struck with Warner Bros for him to direct and produce several films under their banner.
- Release Date
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August 2, 2024
- Cast
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Josh Hartnett
, Hayley Mills
, Marnie McPhail
, Vanessa Smythe
, Saleka Shyamalan
, Malik Jubal
, Jonathan Langdon
, Peter D’Souza
, Ty Pravong
, Kaitlyn Dallan - Studio(s)
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Blinding Edge Pictures
, New Line Cinema - Distributor(s)
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Warner Bros. Pictures
, New Line Cinema
WATCH ON MAX