Are you prepared for Aaron Eckhart to be Bourne again as an action hero? In Erased, the character actor takes a stab at Liam Neeson’s territory by playing Ben Logan, a decommissioned CIA Black Ops agent who is pulled into a violent web of conspiracies and lies when the people he worked for try to eliminate him from existence.
The trailer for the new thriller arrived on Yahoo Movies. We have it for you below:
For so many reasons, Erased (which once was called The Expatriate) looks like Taken mashed together with Unknown, two recent Neeson joints that found him plowing through faceless adversaries. Pairing Eckhart’s character with a daughter (Liana Liberato) shouts out to Maggie Grace in Neeson’s movie. The lack of a proper identity slides right into the Unknown groove. And the soaking-wet, anonymous European settings give it that freshly-glazed Bourne appearance that studios are anxious to imitate.
Eckhart’s usually believable in films that he tries, though I wouldn’t peg him as an action superstar after Paycheck or Battle: Los Angeles. I’m sure he sees the tide turning toward older action stars collecting paychecks of their own in movies like Neeson’s offerings, and he wants a piece of the pie. The action in Erased looks generically forgettable, but if there’s any hook we can dig a finger into, it’s the father-daughter bond, which Eckhart should be able to sell.
German filmmaker Philipp Stolzl directs Erased. His previous credits include North Face (2008) and Young Goethe In Love (2010). His movie will be available on demand on April 5, moving to select theaters on May 10.
