Samuel L. Jackson Reunites With Renny Harlin for Their Most Explosive Action Thriller Yet

If you've been missing the kind of bonkers, gleefully ridiculous action thrillers that used to pack cinemas in the '90s, you might want to pay attention to this one. Samuel L. Jackson is teaming back up with director Renny Harlin, the guy behind everything from Die Hard 2 to The Long Kiss Goodnight—and when those two work together, at the very least, you know things are going to get loud and weird.

The Plot: Presidents, Militias, and… a Weaponized Limo?

The new movie is called The Beast, and I’ll just say it up front: the premise is so over-the-top I had to double check I wasn’t reading a parody. Jackson plays the President of the United States. A militia storms Washington and launches a coup, trapping the Commander-in-Chief inside his car. And this isn’t just any car—the presidential limo is apparently a rolling tank with 'top-secret capabilities.' Yes, the Beast from the title is actually that armoured limo you see in inauguration parades. It’s Die Hard, but with a sitting President fending off armed insurrectionists from inside his own Batmobile.

If you’re thinking, 'Can anyone possibly make this work?' well, Renny Harlin has built an entire career out of taking crazy plots that shouldn’t work and somehow making them a blast to watch. (One word: Cliffhanger.)

Cast and Crew Rundown

• Samuel L. Jackson – America’s cinematic MVP, now playing a US President with survival instincts
• Joel Kinnaman – No slouch himself when it comes to tough-guy roles. He’s signed on for the ride
• Renny Harlin (Director) – In case you forgot, this is the guy who made snowmobiles, sharks, and Geena Davis all unexpectedly cool in the '90s

This is the first time Harlin and Jackson have worked together since The Long Kiss Goodnight, which basically defined 'underrated' in the buddy action thriller department.

Who's Bringing This to Screens?

The film is being produced by Aura Entertainment (the folks who also put Rainn Wilson in the driver’s seat of a cop flick called Code 3—so clearly, they’re not afraid of wild concepts). Aura just grabbed the US rights for The Beast, working with Fifth Season, and the plan is to drop this thing in US theaters sometime late this year—so expect it in the fourth quarter, if you can actually keep track of release windows anymore.

Why Is This Movie Happening Now?

If you’re wondering why now is the time for 'action movie where the car is basically a character,' consider the general climate: everything old is new again, and there's a real appetite for original, big-screen action flicks that aren’t tied to comic book universes or streaming algorithms.

Makes sense, then, that Aura’s CEO Marc Goldberg is in sales-pitch mode:

'The Beast is exactly the kind of film that gets audiences back in theaters. Renny Harlin knows how to deliver action at the highest level, and with Samuel L. Jackson and Joel Kinnaman leading the charge, this film is going to be an absolute must-see event. We couldn’t be more excited to bring it to audiences this fall.'

Look, maybe we shouldn’t take a movie about a superpowered presidential limo all that seriously. But for my money, if you’re going to be absurd, you might as well do it with Samuel L. Jackson and a director who’s been leaning into the insane since VHS tapes were still a thing. I don’t know if this movie will be 'good' in the traditional sense, but it’s almost certain to be entertaining—and at least it’s not another generic reboot.