Thomas Crown Affair trailer: Second look at upcoming reboot starring Michael B Jordan is giving Bond vibes
Amazon MGM is giving you a placeholder until the real deal. But that’s not what we need.
It sizzles! It thrills! It teases!
The second trailer for upcoming reboot of The Thomas Crown Affair dropped overnight and once you’ve taken in Michael B. Jordan’s billionaire playboy in all his glory, there’s a niggling feeling.
It feels… familiar?
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.Obviously, it should feel familiar to a point, this is the third iteration of the character having previously been embodied by Steve McQueen in 1968 and Pierce Brosnan in 1999. But, no, that’s not it.
The two-and-a-half minute clip features scenes of the charged chemistry between Jordan and his co-star Adria Arjona, the insurance agent hired to hunt him down, as well as a car chase scene on a race track, a really fast boat, Thomas Crown repelling off the side of a skyscraper, and fisticuffs played out in silhouette. Plus, a menacing Kenneth Branagh.
It all seems a bit, well, James Bond. Right down to the tuxedo.
The Thomas Crown Affair, which releases in cinemas in March, is coming from Amazon MGM, the same studio that’s rebooting the Bond movies. Perhaps it’s trying to keep you interested until the real deal can come along.
Look, maybe the actual movie will turn out to be very different, and high-end thrill toys are part of The Thomas Crown Affair DNA too, but jazz and soul soundtrack aside, this latest trailer seems to play down what makes this character distinct.
Thomas Crown is supposed to be a rich, bored playboy who gets his rocks off with planning and executing heists – in the McQueen version, it was robbing banks, in the Brosnan remake, it was art.
But in this upcoming one, there are references to a shared personal history between Crown and his target, the glowering character played by Branagh. The word “revenge” even flashes up on the screen.
If that’s the case, then it’s a departure from the canon, and fundamentally changes Crown’s motivations, and therefore his whole schtick. Maybe that’s how the movie is trying to get around the fact that a bored billionaire trying to entertain himself doesn’t play as well in 2027, even if he does look like Jordan.
Jordan also directed the film from a screenplay by Drew Pearce and Jason Hall. The production had originally cast Taylor Russell in the investigator role, and was later replaced by Arjona.
The cast also includes Lily Gladstone, Dana Gurira, Pilou Asbaek and Aiysha Hart.
