They don’t call Dave Bautista “Franchise Viagra” the way they do Dwayne Johnson. Despite both having similar WWE origins, sharing a similar physicality and unexpected range of humor, Bautista has used his blockbuster success in Guardians of the Galaxy to take on a variety of genre films away from the big studio system. To me, it’s made him a more interesting actor than Johnson, and has me eager to see his newest project, Killer’s Game.
Collider reports Bautista has agreed to star in the action flick Killer’s Game, which sounds pretty wild. Based on the book by Jay Bonansinga, the story follows a hitman with the awesome name of Joe Flood, whose doctor informs him he only has months to live. Choosing to go out his own way, he puts out a contract on his own life, only to later learn that he is actually in perfect health and must now fight the assassins out to kill him.
This has the potential to be really great, and with DJ Caruso at the helm it could be. Not that Caruso is a great filmmaker, but he’s directed his share of junky-but-fun thrillers, including 2017’s XXX: Return of Xander Cage, which is exactly the tone this should be going for.
Next up for Bautista is the buddy comedy Stuber, alongside Kumail Nanjiani. Bautista returned to WWE for a match at last week’s WrestleMania, retiring from professional wrestling the next day.
