Shane Black is returning to his action roots, and I'm genuinely uncertain whether to be excited or concerned. The Nice Guys and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang director is writing and possibly directing an adaptation of The Executioner pulp novel series for Sony. The books follow a sniper-turned-one-man-army fighting the Mafia, the KGB, terrorists, and basically anyone who looks at him wrong. It's pure 1970s testosterone in literary form.
Black made his name with Lethal Weapon and has spent the past three decades either chasing that high or brilliantly subverting it. When he subverts - like in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang or The Nice Guys - you get whip-smart neo-noir that deconstructs genre tropes while delivering genuine thrills. When he plays it straight - like in Iron Man 3 or the regrettable Predator reboot - results vary wildly.
The Executioner presents a fascinating test case. The source material is problematic in that special 1970s men's adventure way - relentlessly violent, politically questionable, written with all the psychological depth of a ballistics report. The protagonist, Mack Bolan, is essentially the Punisher before Frank Castle existed, minus any interesting moral complexity.
The smart play would be for Black to bring his trademark subversive wit to the material. Make it a satirical dissection of American vigilante fantasies, the way The Nice Guys lovingly mocked detective fiction. Set it at Christmas - because this is Shane Black, so of course it'll be at Christmas - and lean into the absurdity of one man declaring war on organized crime.
The dumb play would be to make it sincere. We don't need another grim, self-serious revenge fantasy where a grizzled white guy shoots his way through moral ambiguity. The genre is exhausted. If Black is just going to deliver John Wick but with more '70s macho posturing, count me out.
The optimistic read is that wouldn't hire to make a straightforward action movie. You hire him for his voice, his structural playfulness, his ability to make violence stylish without being nihilistic. If they wanted generic, they'd hire any number of competent journeymen directors.
