G. Allen Johnson March 2, 2021Updated: March 3, 2021, 2:54 pm
Frank Grillo (left) is the hero and Mel Gibson the villain in Joe Carnahan’s “Boss Level,” which premieres on Hulu on Friday, March 5. Photo: Hulu
Joe Carnahan grew up in Fairfield, not Hong Kong, but you’d never know it by his movies, which stay light on their feet with the fast-moving kineticism and stylish visuals you would expect from the land of John Woo and Johnnie To.
Ever since his $8,000 first feature, “Blood Guts Bullets & Octane” shot in and around Sacramento proved a hit at Sundance in 1998, he has been Hollywood’s most underrated action filmmaker. He directed both Liam Neeson’s best film of his ongoing post-“Taken” action hero cycle, “The Grey,” and Neeson’s silliest, “The A-Team.” Before that, there was “Narc” and “Smokin’ Aces.”