When was the last time we saw Aaron Eckhart as lead actor in a movie? As adman Nick Naylor trying to save big tobacco in the brilliant Thank You for Smoking? Eckhart is such a great lead actor-type that you wonder why he isn’t headlining more movies. He’s the guy that had us all wearing “I Believe in Harvey Dent” badges after his performance as Two-Face in The Dark Knight. He drew some critical acclaim for his role opposite Julia Roberts in Erin Brockovich. And he served as a great bad guy opposite Ben Affleck in the superb Philip K. Dick adaptation Paycheck. Finally Echkart gets his own action movie in Erased, a flick whose launch date was originally set for last year but now seems to be finally set for May 10, 2013.
Erased (originally titled The Expatriate, but renamed for the U.S. release) appears to be a blend of a summer action flick like The Bourne Identity (with Eckhart playing an ex-CIA agent on the run), the Robert Redford espionage thriller Three Days of the Condor (where one day all his co-workers turn up dead and his world upside down), and Liam Neeson’s Taken, since he has to protect his little girl along the way. Eckhart’s role also seems similar to that of Ben Affleck’s role in Eckhart’s prior film Paycheck, since he creates some future technology that leaves him to unravel what happened to his life. Hopefully the delays and title changes don’t indicate a bad final product.
Check out the trailer for Erased:
Erased also stars Bond girl Olga Kurylenko, who played opposite Daniel Craig in Quantum of Solace. The trailer for Erased looks pretty good, especially the conspiracy bit, although as typical of Hollywood the trailer gives too much away, including the fact that Eckhart’s unassuming front desk security guy ends up as a gun-toting assassin by film’s end. But heck, we’ll probably forget that by its May release date. This may be a big year for Eckhart. He is also is paying a president in Olympus Has Fallen, a pretty flat-out passable looking flick starring Gerard Butler due in theaters March 22, 2013, but better yet, he’ll be starring as Frankenstein’s monster Adam Frankenstein in the adaptation of the graphic novel I, Frankenstein, to be released September 13, 2013, where he’ll play opposite Chuck’s Yvonne Strahovski, The Lord of the Rings’ Miranda Otto, and sci-fi fave Bill Nighy.
C.J. Bunce
Editor
borg.com
