“Hounds of War” Theatrical Poster
Cult filmmaker Isaac Florentine (Seized, Acts of Vengeance) – known for consistently delivering the low budget thrillers such as U.S. Seals II, Ninja: Shadow of a Tear, Close Range and Undisputed 2 – will soon unleash XYZ’s Hounds of War, his latest actioner starring Frank Grillo (Boss Level, Wolf Warrior 2).
The movie will follow a group of mercenaries who take on jobs that are considered impossible. After a mission goes wrong due to a shocking betrayal, only one of them is left alive to avenge his fallen brothers (via Deadline).
Robert Patrick (Terminator 2, Future Hunters), Rhona Mitra (Hard Target 2), Nicky Whelan (The Girl in the Window), Mark Strange (Ip Man 4: The Finale) and Joey Ansah (The Old Guard).
Action choreography is handled by David Wald, who is perhaps best known for his stunt and action work in films such as F9: The Fast Saga and John Woo’s upcoming remake of his own classic, The Killer.
Hounds of War hits digital on September 6, 2024. Trailer below:
This has the potential to be a fun time killer. Hope it’s nowhere near like Seized.
It looks like Rhona Mitra is only in one scene of the film, I know she wasn’t good in Hard Target 2, but she does well in action roles under the right direction. I hope Frank Grillo has a decent fight with Mark Strange. It seems like they would be great collaborators.
I picked up Hounds of War from the bargain bin, and it was pretty cool. Florentine shows that he was back on track, and Scott Adkins would not have been out of place here. For being a smaller scale film, the plot gets pretty creative with how Frank Grillo and company avoid getting captured and how they manage to capture their target.
There’s some good shootouts and a nice helping of hand to hand combat. There’s nothing particularly intricate that makes one yell “oh shit,” but everyone is in tune with the choreography, and Rhona Mitra gets to have her fighting moments which brought back memories of Doomsday.
I hope this is the start of a new winning streak for Florentine. Frank Grillo also starred in a movie that could have been a sequel to Hounds of War called Long Gone Heroes. It came out at almost the same time, and it was just as good. I hope this means Grillo has more good stuff on the horizon and no more cheapies.