Anna Daniels
Have you heard of Boss Level? It wouldn’t be surprising if you haven’t because it’s a movie produced by the now-defunct MoviePass that doesn’t yet have a release date. But this is an action-packed new movie from Smokin’ Aces and The Grey director Joe Carnahan that follows Frank Grillo as a retired special forces veteran trapped in a never-ending time loop resulting in his death every day. Instead of taking this scenario lying down, this guy has developed an incredible mastery of his skills as a soldier and how to utilize the world around him. It certainly sounds interesting and there’s a little bit of early buzz that indicates this movie is a hell of a lot of fun.
Joe Carnahan and Collider hosted a special screening of Boss Level last night in order to drum up some buzz in the hopes that the movie will get picked up by another distributor and make it into theaters. From the few critics who were in attendance, it sounds like this movie has a lot of action-packed fun to offer.
First up, our own Peter Sciretta was there, and he seems pretty satisfied with the results:
#BossLevel is a timeloop movie on crack, FFwding through the traditional Groundhog Day approach to the point where our hero has developed a God-level mastery over his world. Loses some of the fun of timeloop discovery, but its a lean, messy but fun, B-action film in the best way.
— Peter Sciretta (@PeterSciretta) February 12, 2020
Boss Level felt like it was made for me. It’s Groundhog Day if it starred Frank Grillo learning to become a better and better warrior in order to save his family and the world. High energy, awesome action, great twists and a huge heart. Carnahan crushed it. #bosslevel
— Germain Lussier (@GermainLussier) February 12, 2020
What I loved most about #BossLevel wasn’t the time loop aspect, necessarily, but that the film is also a love letter to the old side-scrolling arcade games like Double Dragon and Street Fighter. As someone who grew up playing those games, this film was a real treat
— Erik Davis (@ErikDavis) February 12, 2020
I saw Joe Carnahan’s BOSS LEVEL and that movie is gonna fuckin’ PLAY. (Perfect for a @SXSW drop if they’re looking.) Tightly structured riff in the GROUNDHOG DAY/EDGE OF TOMORROW vein with a magnetic Frank Grillo front and center. Synopsis/first pics here: https://t.co/vGVFKU2TEQ pic.twitter.com/XolBU4xQHc
— Kris Tapley (@kristapley) January 31, 2020
Even The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman chimed in with his take on the movie:
Thanks to #colliderscreenings I got to see the upcoming movie #bosslevel by #joecarnahan starring #FrankGrillo and it was totally great! Nothing like seeing an insanely awesome movie completely cold. Highly recommended… in a few months.
— Robert Kirkman (@RobertKirkman) February 12, 2020
There were also some reactions from non-critic folks as well who also seemed to enjoy the movie:
Caught an early screening of #BossLevel and it was a great (is time-loop a genre?) time-loop action movie with heart. Definitely worth catching on a big screen. pic.twitter.com/CdYVYm1hMl
— Clayton Gorman (@C1ay) February 12, 2020
Thanks to #colliderscreenings we got to see #BossLevel the most insane and best action film of the year way in advance of its release date. Spectacular set pieces & such a cool high concept. Director #JoeCarnahan was extremely kind to my Kid. We had such a great time!
— Domenico Salvaggio (@DomSalvaggio) February 12, 2020
Well, that sounds like a solid round of early reviews for the movie. The Groundhog Day formula appears to be shaken up a bit by not showing the part where the character realizes what’s happening to him. Instead, we meet the guy stuck in a time loop after he’s already become very well-acclimated to his surroundings. That should make for some truly epic action sequences.
If you need anymore convincing to see this movie, the cast also includes Naomi Watts, Michelle Yeoh, Annabelle Wallis, Ken Jeong and for some reason, former New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski.
Perhaps more industry folk will see it and Boss Level ends up getting a new distributor who won’t bury it as a VOD release. Big action like this deserves to be seen in theaters. Plus, it sounds like the whole gang had enough fun making this movie that they decided to team up for another one called Leo from Toledo.
Stay tuned to hear what happens with Boss Level, and hopefully you’ll be able to see it in a theater near you sometime this year.
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