Netflix's ‘Wheelman’ film is a claustrophobic driving thriller
It comes to the streaming service on October 20th.
'Man and his car' films occasionally become genre classics, like Bullitt, Drive and Baby Driver, but even farther-ranging flicks like Death Proof and Speed use vehicles as brilliant settings for novel drama. Judging by the trailer that just dropped, Netflix's original film Wheelman fits this niche like (excuse me) a glove: A driver's next job sends him down a chaotic path that puts his loved ones in danger, threatened by a manipulative person on the other end of the phone.
The trailer shows the driver, played by Frank Grillo (The Grey, Purge: Anarchy & Election Year, Captain America: Winter Soldier), desperately trying to figure out who's pulling the strings of the deadly game he's stuck in. Most of the footage is from claustrophobic angles within the car, effectively framing the tension between the driver and the voice on the other end of the call. The film is a tight, breathless thriller that makes the most of its modest budget, according to Slashfilm's Jacob Hall. It certainly looks filled with the grimy lethality that's coming in Netflix's eventual Punisher series, but you can watch Wheelman long before when it lands on October 20th.
