Bruce Willis and Christmas. The two go together like hand in glove. Fans of the Hollywood icon have spent years debating whether Willis’s most famous picture, Die Hard, can be considered a Christmas movie or not. It’s almost like Willis heard the debates, then decided to do a movie that is so very clearly a Christmas-based action thriller that all questions about the legitimacy of its holiday association can be blown out of the water. The new trailer for Willis’s upcoming Detective Knight: Redemption just dropped, from Lionsgate. Check it out at the top of this page.
You might not realize this, but Bruce Willis’s new Detective Knight: Redemption will be the middle chapter of a trilogy of films that began with Detective Knight: Rogue (also released in 2022), and will conclude with the announced Detective Knight: Independence. “But I thought Bruce Willis retired from acting?” you are asking yourself. And you are correct. Due to a battle with aphasia, Willis announced he no longer would be acting. Then, technology allowed the A-lister to appear in a commercial using deepfake tools, so there’s no telling how many more movies he could “star” in.
This particular movie likely was filmed before Willis announced he was going to retire, and has either been in post-production or in the can waiting for a slot on which it could drop. There definitely seems to be a lot of action happening in the trailer, though a lot of it belongs to a terrorist known as The Christmas Bomber. Willis, as you can see, is in police custody, but then is offered a plea deal – his badge back – if he’s able to confront this criminal and bring him to justice.
Yipee-kai-yay.
There has been some criticism leveled at these late-career action movies featuring Bruce Willis in lead or supporting roles. Because of his affliction, some have questioned whether the actor was taking these easy gigs for the paycheck, or phoning in performances. His team has spoken out against those allegations, and as someone who has sat through a number of these films (a lot of them are available on various streaming services), I can tell you that some of them are original and inventive and worth your time. Others are not, but these aren’t complete cash grabs, in the ways the gossip hounds might lead you to believe.
I haven’t yet seen Detective Knight: Rogue, but I certainly plan to prior to checking out Detective Knight: Redemption. They might not crack our list of the best Bruce Willis movies ever made. But they still can provide some entertainment as 2022 draws to a close. What else is coming to theaters over the next two months? Check our complete list of upcoming 2022 movies for the full rundown.
