I watched the trailer — loud, irreverent, and strangely tender. A hitman? Babysitting? It's a mash‑up that couldn't help but make me blink. And yet here we are, drawn in.
London Calling follows Tommy Ward (Josh Duhamel), an assassin escaping the UK after a job implodes. Forced to babysit the son (Jeremy Ray Taylor as Julian) of his new crime boss, he must teach the kid how to… man up, hit things, maybe even aim a gun. It's got echoes of Léon: The Professional, but remake isn't the word—it's a full‑blown reboot‑comed y hybrid. Life's messy; so is this.
Directed by Allan Ungar—whose credits include Tapped Out and Gridlocked—this film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival's market in September 2024, marking Ungar's steady climb from gritty shorts to feature-length mayhem. The Co‑screenwriters—Omer Levin Menekse, Quinn Wolfe, and Ungar himself—give the premise a cheeky wink: the crime genre with a side of awkward parenting.
And speaking of dates—mark your calendar. London Calling lands in select U.S. theaters on September 19, 2025, courtesy of Quiver Distribution. No fluff, no stream drops first: real screens, real popcorn.
Now. Some of it feels direct‑to‑TV—talk‑heavy, punch‑light. But there's texture: Aidan Gillen's presence (likely the crime boss), Rick Hoffman and Arnold Vosloo bring character gravitas, Neil Sandilands too. The trailer leans hard on the chemistry between hardened killer and kid—think rough around the edges, but there's warmth peeking through.
Here's what grabbed me:
- The premise – It's Léon with punchlines. Juxtaposing calculated violence with juvenile innocence is a classic dynamic, but Duhamel brings his everyman charm—can he pull off cold‑blooded dad figure?
- Tonal gamble – Hitman plus kiddo usually means melodrama or action‑heavy stakes. Here? They drop in sardonic moments, comedic timing, then cut to blood‑spatter. It's uneven—but maybe that's the point.
- Ungar's growth – From smaller indie thrills to this: he's finding his rhythm in genre blends. TIFF 2024's market placement gave it some early buzz; now it's time for general audiences in fall 2025.
Is it worth that seat? I'm torn: there's a charm there, but also a clunkiness—a tonally slippery slope. Still, Duhamel's earnestness sells it. And that kid… Tommy's assigned protégé seems like he'll steal more than a grenade.
Shot in (I presume) London's rain‑slick streets, you can almost taste the damp—if only the pacing matched the mood. My gut? It could surprise as a cult favorite—or play small and vanish. But the trailer hooked me enough to book it.
It could be brilliantly off‑kilter. Or just weird. I'm in. Are you?
