The Last Mercenary is a new Netflix film set to release in July that is set in France. The first trailer shows that Jean-Claude Van Damme's new action-comedy movie is going to heat up the summer for a nice quick weekend watch. The preview does a good job at not taking itself seriously and honing in on the campiness.
Starring Van Damme as the main character, this movie sets to follow him as an agent who will be protecting a kid as he also fights for the protection of France. The Last Mercenary trailer had plenty of fourth wall breaking and references to other movies including The Godfather and The Terminator.
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The Last Mercenary will premiere on Netflix and be available for streaming to all subscribers of the service. Van Damme put the trailer on his YouTube channel for everyone to watch, which should please fans of the iconic action movie star. Per Netflix, Van Damme's estranged son will be falsely accused of arms and drug trafficking by the government, prompting the series of action-filled events that can be seen in The Last Mercenary trailer.
In terms of action movies, we rarely see films that are intentionally funny while having great action, and it's even rarer to see it done well, so The Last Mercenary is a nice surprise. Many movie viewers remember the popular Rush Hour trilogy, which blended humor from Chris Tucker with action scenes from Jackie Chan. John Wick is currently the standard for mainstream action films but many like to look at The Raid as the bar since it also has long action scenes with little to few cuts.
Most fight scenes in films (especially mainstream) are filmed with inserts or quick camera angle shifts to progress the action. This creates the illusion that the actors or stuntmen are performing their actions all in "one go" when in reality, they're stopping and re-recording multiple takes with the fight scenes being filmed in sections. Marvel movies have done this, the Taken series is guilty of it, and many times it serves its purpose and it doesn't make the film bad or "lazy."
However, credit must be given to the actors and stuntmen who put their safety on the line to film a fight scene in one take or with few alternate angles in order to make the fighting appear as authentic as possible. It's never expected or required but should always be appreciated when it's done since it takes, time, dedication, and effort.
The Last Mercenary will be available on July 30th, 2021, for Netflix users.
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Source: Jean-Claude Van Damme / YouTube