Josh Duhamel has been looked at as a heartthrob for over two decades. He returned to his TV roots, where everyone was reminded of that status in the Netflix series Ransom Canyon. Duhamel stars in the new comedy written by the trio of Omer Levin Menekse, Quinn Wolfe, and Allan Ungar, where he plays a hitman attempting to get his son back in London Calling. Starring alongside Duhamel are Jeremy Ray Taylor and Suits star Rick Hoffman.
London Calling follows Tommy Ward, a mediocre hitman who is forced to go on the run after killing the relative of London’s biggest crime boss. In order to get back to his son, Tommy strikes a deal with his new boss, Benson, to teach his socially awkward son, Julian, how to become a man in exchange for safe passage back to the UK. After being forced to bring Julian on his latest contract killing, Tommy must figure out a way to teach him what’s needed while surviving the night.
London Calling Review
Benson is frustrated because he wants his son Julian to take over his crime empire; instead, he likes to dress up and role-play as a furry. Enter Tommy, who is on the run after his latest hit job. Tommy asks Benson for help to get him back into the United Kingdom to be around his son. Benson agrees to help, but first Tommy must take his son Julian on his next job with him and ensure he pulls the trigger, “making him a man.”
Julian’s fascination with LARPing has driven his dad mad. However, in the early part of his training with Tommy, some of the things he is learning end up being uncharacteristically good because of his hobby. But his lack of control in how he does things leads to him and Tommy finding themselves at odds in the middle of trying to hunt down their contract. The back-and-forth banter between the two turns this into a full-fledged buddy comedy.
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On the surface, Tommy is your basic bad guy who works in the world of being a hitman and isn’t that great of a father. He is jealous of the new man in his ex-wife’s life, who is more of a father figure than he is to his son. The script paints this basic picture and attempts to make you care about that dynamic. It falls short because, again, Tommy is remotely likable. Sure, Josh Duhamel brings his typically good-looking charm, but it doesn’t make up for Tommy’s actions or even how he treats Julian early on.
Because of this, as a viewer, you are very much in the middle of what is happening. You definitely don’t like Benson because he is a dick to his son, and Tommy isn’t worthy of a redemption arc because he made his own mistakes. As for Julian, the writers at least got the arc with him decent enough not to make this film an entire waste.
Jeremy Ray Taylor has been acting for a little over a decade, and you have seen him in smash hits like It, It: Chapter Two, and more recently in Senior Year. But this is the first time you’ve seen him in a leading role like this. Taylor is the perfect counterpart to Duhamel in playing the oddball, quirky, dorky kid. Taylor and Duhamel share quite a few funny moments together that help the underwhelming script that they were given.
Although it felt like he was playing a variation of his iconic character Louis Litt, Rick Hoffman was a fun villain. After watching, you almost wonder why he hasn’t gotten more roles like this where he can play a sarcastic, over-the-top bad guy because he elevated this every time he was on the screen.
Is London Calling Worth Watching?
At the end of the day, London Calling is the prototypical underwhelming direct-to-DVD type of movie that isn’t the worst thing you can throw on to watch on a random Friday. I definitely wouldn’t spend money to see this in a theater or even on VOD, but when it hits a streaming platform or even a few-dollar rental online, you might find yourself slightly enamored by Josh Duhamel’s charming personality. Or maybe just rewatch Ransom Canyon again.
London Calling is set to hit theaters on September 19th.
