I think Grillo is worthy of an appreciation thread for B level action movie stars

He did get a big gig this year

He's a new series regular on season 2 of Tulsa King

https://deadline.com/2024/04/tulsa-k...-2-1235876246/


And here is the newest trailer for his latest Lionsgate DTV release



And he has another movie coming out in a few weeks with Rhona Mitra and Robert Patrick



The guy is almost 60 and he's in phenomenal shape. Probably one of the reasons why he always gets work.

He gets a few big jobs here and there like Tulsa King, but he's a steadily working actor like Scott Adkins.

Anyone remember the ABC summer horror comedy he did years ago?

He grinds it out and isn't "poor" by any means. I follow him on Instagram and he's entertaining. I remember when he listed his mansion up for sale because he was relocating to some shithole red state. He quickly came to his senses when he realized that the quality of life here is unparalleled. His two Cane Corso's are awesome, too.

The shitty scripts in the Purge films he's in betray his talent. He's always been the best part of the Purge films he's been in.

I only know him as the bad guy from WOLF WARRIOR 2, Mainland China's answer to Rambo.

He'd be a fantastic Max Payne if someone would make proper neo noir adaptation of Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne. Would be great if this hypothetical film were called The Late Goodbye, after the Poets of the Fall tune used prominently in the game.

Speaking off video games, he's great in Boss Level, which feels like it was based on a video game that itself was inspired by Groundhog Day.

He's also playing Rick Flag Sr. in various DCU projects including Superman, Peacemaker: Season 2 and voicing the character in the animated feature Creature Commandos.

That one kinda weird me out, cos I don't buy him as Joel Kinnaman's dad. Should've been an older actor, like Ed Harris.

Dermont Mulroney and Jonathan Rhys Meyer need their own thread too since they are also vying for that B movie crown too though Grillo gets work in some "A" movies which the other two mostly do not.

I’ve been so tempted to create a thread like this for a couple of years now. I find Grillo to be a very compelling actor whose rough ‘bad guy’ face certainly hasn’t pigeon-holed him the way it might’ve done to similar actors in older B-action pictures. He brings a solid game to a lot of movies co-starring other B-movie regulars likewise known for elevating lower material quite a bit. I think he’s also a sharp comic actor, as seen in BOSS LEVEL and COP SHOP.

It’s interesting that Scott Adkins and Dermont Mulroney were mentioned (or maybe this is why other folks brought them up) because they’re both in an upcoming Grillo movie called LIGHTS OUT.



I stumbled across that a few days ago while coincidentally looking up both Grillo and Adkins to see if they’re still as prolific as they seemed to be in recent years (answer: yes). I thought Grillo was really good in BEYOND SKYLINE, too. In the follow-up SKYLINES they teased him as possibly returning to the franchise. The next one, though, SKYLINE: WARPATH, has Scott Adkins in the lead, so I’m kinda hoping the two pair up if that franchise keeps going. The films aren’t classics by a long shot, but the casts are invariably B-movie stalwarts and the special effects belie the modest budgets.

I checked on IMDb and I’ve seen 23 Grillo movies so far, from the big Marvel shows on down, and while I rated most of them in the 6-7 range, only two, so far, were really mediocre in spite of Grillo being good in them: JIU JITSU with Nic Cage, and A DAY TO DIE with Bruce Willis. Mind you, his filmography lists 97 gigs so far, plus nine more upcoming, so I’m sure there are other bad ones in the mix, but I’d wager that’s not due to Grillo phoning it in.

Why does Scott Adkins look like a rugged Ryan Reynolds in that poster?

I love Frank Grillo. I've been following him since Captain America: TWS. I am so glad he is getting his due. Boss Level is fantastic. I've seen it 3 times now and it doesn't get old. That is awesome about Tulsa King. He needs to be in more things now. He's just brutal and would be a terrific action star.

He's great. Mainly know him as Rumlow in the MCU and the two Purge movies... which I actually like.

More things?! In the last 10 years he's been in like 60 movies!

I always think he looks like Ben Affleck.

Scott Adkins was Affleck's stunt double in BvS.

I had the same exact thought.

I really, truly wanted to enjoy this movie, but found it so incredibly boring.

yeah, he's done little bits here and there, but Boss Level maybe The Purge movies too, I don't know, I haven't seen them, but I wouldn't say those are mainstream films with him as the focal point. Boss Level is really the only one he is showcased in that people actually saw. he really hasn't been in many mainstream movies except MCU (and even those appearances didn't have too much screen time). I would like to see him in more starring vehicles.

Definitely not little bits.

I don’t think Grillo himself is really about mainstream movies. If you want to see his starring roles, they’re pretty much all in mid- to lower-budget fare, much of which is really good because of him. He clearly knows where his ‘mean’ appearance and skills with screen fighting are best put to use, and that’s in B-movies where he can carry the show or lead an ensemble, with occasional appearances in mainstream supporting roles to keep his name on the shortlists for those. And if you look at most of his B pictures, his co-stars are often actors that have carved out similar niches for themselves, including Adkins, Cage, Gibson, Willis (before we knew what was going on there), Michael Jai White, Iko Uwais, Dolph Lundgren, Stephen Dorff, Kevin Dillon, Shea Whigam, latter-day Morgan Freeman, etc. He also seems to keep a number of MMA fighters gainfully employed from time to time, so I’m assuming he’s got interests in that world as well (don’t know for sure as it’s not my thing).

The first time I remember taking notice of him was in the DirecTV show Kingdom. And have liked him ever since.

This one time he called into the Preston & Steve Show on WMMR. They were huge fans of him because whenever he called in he was great. Very open, and funny and entertaining. Anyway, I forget what he was promoting and at the end they bring up Winter Soldier, and he's goes, yeah... I'm actually on the set of Civil War right now... And they freaked out, and he starts hyping it, it's gonna be awesome, I can't wait for you to see it, etc etc. Obviously he couldn't say much about it, but kind of eluded to being a big part of it.
And I'm thinking this is going to be awesome, I can't wait to see him in there. Crossbones is going to be sooo awesome, and he's going to be sooo good because he is so awesome!!
Then after watching the first 12 minutes... that's when I realized Frank Grillo is a liar!

Normally, yes. But not in that poster.

No he wasn't. Damon Caro, Zack Snyder's go-to stunt guy, was Affleck's double in BvS.

​​​​​​​As I recall, Grillo signed a 5-picture deal and his being suddenly offed in Civil War was a huge surprise to him.

that’s why I’m saying he should be in more mainstream movies. He’s better than just a B actor. I think he is talented enough to be like a Jason Statham, the Rock or any mainstream action star, right now. He is good enough for higher profile roles.

Crazy. All these years I thought Adkins was his double, especially during the awesome warehouse scene. Oh well.

Here's the thing, he's 60, not a star and the big studios don't make crime/action movies anymore. We're 2/3rds of the way through the year and we've had The Beekeeper and Bad Boys 4. Any others that I'm forgetting? What movies is he supposed to be in besides all the ones that he already makes?

I totally agree he’s talented enough to be the lead in mainstream action pictures, and I sometimes wish he was instead of some of the utterly forgettable newcomer millennial posers who turn up in them. But I’m also cool if he keeps making the movies he already makes because, well, he makes more of those than he ever would doing Big Studio fare. With occasional exceptions (like the Willis movies), they tend to be slightly-better- to better-than-average B action or suspense thriller pictures, he’s invariably interesting to watch in them even when they’re so-so, and in a lot of cases he gets co-stars who likewise elevate standard material. He likely would have been an A-list star in another era, but he seems content to wrangle smaller roles in A-list films while keeping busy in the B-list trenches. And at 60, why not? While he’s not a bad looking guy, he just looks like a bad guy! Marvel obviously picked up on it, and he’s certainly leaned into it throughout his career. But kudos to him for spinning it into some good ‘tough hero’ roles in his smaller pictures. I find his face alone sometimes provides character backstory that isn’t necessarily in some of his scripts. He just looks like a guy with a fucked up past even if he doesn’t seem to have one in real life.

Speaking of Statham – whose own movies border on upscale DTV sometimes – Grillo had a good part in HOMEFRONT:

I saw a trailer in theatres this weekend for Werewolves. That looked pretty cool. Whenever it makes it way online, I'll throw up a thread for that one.