Samuel L. Jackson's 'Fast & Furious Meets Air Force One' Action Thriller Releases In Under 2 Weeks

Published Sep 29, 2026, 12:30 PM EDT

Ben Sherlock is a Tomatometer-approved film and TV critic who runs the massively underrated YouTube channel I Got Touched at the Cinema. Before working at Screen Rant, Ben wrote for Game Rant, Taste of Cinema, Comic Book Resources, and BabbleTop. He's also an indie filmmaker, a standup comedian, and an alumnus of the School of Rock.

Samuel L. Jackson is one of the most prolific actors on Earth — IMDb lists a whopping 222 acting credits to the Pulp Fiction star’s name — but it’s rare that he gets to be the lead. As a character actor, Jackson is often relegated to a supporting role, like wise Jedi Mace Windu in the Star Wars prequels or sinister house slave Stephen in Django Unchained. Even when he is a lead, like in The Hateful Eight or Deep Blue Sea, it’s usually part of a larger ensemble (in the latter, he was killed off halfway through).

Jackson always shines in these supporting roles — he’s living proof that there truly are no small parts, only small actors — but he’s often in the background as a sort of elder statesman, like Nick Fury in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. When Jackson is given a leading role, he always does something fascinating with it. Snakes on a Plane is a wild ride, Black Snake Moan is absolutely bonkers, and A Time to Kill is one of the most powerful, blood-boiling legal dramas ever put on film. Jackson’s Kingsman villain was more memorable than most official Bond villains of the past 25 years, and his Shaft remake was a fun throwback.

In less than two weeks, we’ll be treated to Jackson’s latest starring role: the President of the United States in an old-school action thriller dubbed The Beast. This movie is “Die Hard in the President’s car,” and I’m here for it.

The Beast Mixes Vehicular Tension With Political Danger

The Beast stars Jackson as the U.S. President and Suicide Squad’s Joel Kinnaman as his bodyguard, Agent Taft. When the President’s heavily armored car, “The Beast,” is ambushed by a militia attempting a coup, he unlocks all the vehicle’s hidden gadgets to fight back. At a tight 99 minutes, this movie combines the vehicular carnage of the Fast & Furious franchise with the geopolitical tension of Harrison Ford’s airborne classic Air Force One. Where Air Force One was “Die Hard on the President’s plane,” The Beast is “Die Hard in the President’s own personal Batmobile.”

One of the most exciting things about The Beast is that Renny Harlin is in the director’s chair. Harlin made his name directing this kind of high-concept action thriller — Die Hard 2, Cliffhanger, The Long Kiss Goodnight, the aforementioned Deep Blue Sea — and, after helming three dreadful Strangers movies back-to-back, I’m glad he’s back in the action genre.

The Beast Is A Throwback To '90s Action Thrillers

With a runtime under three hours, a delightfully daffy premise, and not a superhero in sight, The Beast is a refreshing throwback to a bygone era of action cinema. It might be coming out in 2026, but it has much more in common with the action films of the ‘90s than the ones being made today. The ‘90s were jam-packed with this kind of zany, high-concept action movie, with a grabby elevator pitch and a gleeful disregard for logic and the laws of physics.

Air Force One was about a group of terrorists hijacking the President’s plane. Con Air was about a group of convicts hijacking a prison transport plane and crashing it into the Las Vegas Strip. The Rock was about a group of bioterrorists invading Alcatraz Island and threatening to release a toxic agent. Speed was about a bus being rigged with a bomb that would detonate if its speed dropped below 50mph.

The Beast would fit right in with that category of ‘90s action cinema. If it was actually made in the ‘90s, Agent Taft would’ve been played by Nicolas Cage (and the President might’ve still been played by Samuel L. Jackson, if it was post-Pulp Fiction).

The Beast