Director Martin Campbell's venture into the superhero genre didn't exactly pan out, as 2011's Green Lantern was both a critical and box office disaster, but hopefully he will have a bit more luck with his next feature film venture. According to The Wrap, the British filmmaker is now attached to direct Alpha, a Navy SEAL thriller based on a script that was most recently rewritten by screenwriter Scott Frank.
In the drama, which previously had writers David Benioff, Graham Roland and Carl Ellsworth holding the pen, a Navy SEAL is sent down to South America so that he can help train dogs that can be used in combat service. While serving his mission, however, the dogs' handler is mysteriously kidnapped. Left alone with the dogs and discovering that the handler is still alive, the soldier takes the pack and goes on the hunt to try and save him. Paramount Pictures and production company Parkes/MacDonald are teaming up on the project, which has evidently been in development for quite some time. According to The Wrap's sources, it was only back in March that the studio gave a thumbs up to the script and started moving forward with the film.
Campbell's last outing may have been a disappointment, but one shouldn't ignore all of the quality work that he has done over the last few years. For starters, the filmmaker is responsible for two of the best James Bond movies of the last 20 years, making both 1995's GoldenEye and 2006's Casino Royale. He also did a great job bringing Zorro back to life with 1998's The Mask of Zorro (though that work was somewhat undone by the not-so-great sequel The Legend of Zorro in 2005. Refresh your memory of some of Campbell's best work with the trailers below.
Another reason to suspect that this film could be a winner is Frank's presence. While critics and fans were mixed on his most recent effort, The Wolverine, he happens to have some bona fide great titles under his belt, including Get Shorty, Out of Sight, Minority Report and The Lookout. He's currently hard at work on his next directorial effort, A Walk Among The Tombstones with Liam Neeson, which is currently in post production and doesn't have a release date yet.
