After delivering one of the year’s most acclaimed martial arts spectacles with The Furious, director Kenji Tanigaki is wasting no time jumping into his next project. The legendary action filmmaker has signed on to direct The Reckoner, a new action thriller that will star Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones) and be produced by Anthony and Joe Russo’s AGBO for Lionsgate.
While story details are being kept tightly under wraps, the project already boasts an impressive creative lineup. The screenplay comes from Derek Kolstad, the creator and writer behind the John Wick franchise, signaling that audiences can likely expect a gritty, stylish action film built around expertly crafted set pieces.
The film also marks another collaboration between Lionsgate and AGBO, the production company founded by the Russo brothers. The two companies continue to expand their slate of action-driven features following several high-profile partnerships.
For Tanigaki, The Reckoner represents another major step in a career that has spanned decades. Widely regarded as one of the industry’s premier action choreographers before moving into directing, he has worked on films including the Rurouni Kenshin series, Sakra, Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In, and The Prosecutor. His kinetic, hard-hitting style has earned him a reputation as one of modern action cinema’s most respected filmmakers.
His latest film, The Furious, has only strengthened that reputation. Starring Tse Miao and Joe Taslim, the revenge thriller follows an ordinary father forced to wage war against a ruthless criminal empire after his daughter is kidnapped. Since premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival and grossing $31 million at the global box office, the film has received widespread praise for its relentless action choreography and inventive fight sequences, with many critics calling it one of the standout martial arts films of recent years.
Although Dinklage is best known for his Emmy-winning performance in Game of Thrones, he has increasingly embraced physically demanding genre roles in recent years. Pairing the acclaimed actor with Tanigaki’s signature action direction and Kolstad’s knack for crafting memorable action heroes makes The Reckoner one of the more intriguing action projects now in development.
With Tanigaki continuing to establish himself as a director after years spent shaping some of cinema’s greatest fight scenes, The Reckoner has all the ingredients to become another standout addition to the modern action genre.
SOURCE: THR