denzel washington is watching his son take off on netflix.
by rick gonzales | published
slowly but surely, john david washington is building a fine film career for himself. The son of Hollywood legend Denzel Washington finds himself moving in the right direction again as his new movie ranks #1 on Netflix.
Beckett is John David’s new movie and finds him playing the title character, a man who doesn’t agree to travel but does it for his girlfriend April (Alicia Vikander). john david sees his character as an “everyman”, a man who goes from one side of life to the other, making his girlfriend happy, without looking for trouble. The problem is that trouble sometimes finds those who aren’t looking.
Beckett and April are on vacation in Athens, Greece, when political instability begins. They decide to leave the city to escape from it, so they flee to a hotel located on the outskirts of Athens. During the drive, Beckett is overcome with exhaustion and falls asleep at the wheel. Before he can wake up, the car crashes into a nearby house.
Beckett is in the driver’s seat trying to get his faculties in order. as she does, he sees a red-haired young man being led out of the room by a woman. Now out of the car, Beckett sees that the accident has killed April.
Beckett wakes up in the hospital with a broken arm. as he is interviewed by the local Greek authorities, they tell him how lucky it was that the house he crashed into was empty. But Beckett says that’s not true. he tells the police that he saw a redheaded boy.
Dejected, Beckett leaves the hospital with sleeping pills in his hands. he returns to the house she crashed into with a target. when he starts taking the sleeping pills, a blonde woman appears and starts shooting at him. what’s going on here?
Beckett hides in the bushes outside and as he hides, the same policeman he told about the boy pulls up and calls Beckett. he tells beckett there’s been a mistake, so beckett gets out. As soon as Beckett gets to his feet, the blonde woman shoots him again, hitting him in the arm.
Beckett is now a man on the run and he doesn’t know why. With the officer and the blonde woman hot on his heels, Beckett finds refuge in the home of an old hunter. This does not last as the officer and the blonde woman arrive, attacking the old hunter, but allowing Beckett to escape once more. Beckett needs to get to the American embassy, which is a five-hour drive away.
as beckett walks slowly towards the embassy, he sees two women putting up posters around the city. on the poster is the red-haired boy. Beckett is now starting to put things together. the redhead is the kidnapped son of a liberal politician. The two women offer to drive Beckett to the embassy. When Beckett finally arrives at the embassy, not everyone is who they say they are. Beckett still has a mess to sort out, but he’s not sure who to believe. there is also that situation with the red-haired boy who needs to be taken care of.
comparisons between john david washington’s beckett and bruce willis’s john mcclane are inevitable. the fact that they are ordinary men thrust into extraordinary circumstances is not in vain. but as john david explains, he feels that his character is actually the anthesis of willis’ mcclane. “…he doesn’t necessarily have the facilities like John McClain to figure things out,” John David tells Collider. “But instead he found himself hurt and having to survive and he did that, which is what I love. he persevered, even though he has no police record or navy seal training background. he just wants to survive and he finds a way to do it.”
Beckett was brought to Netflix by Italian director Ferdinando Cito Filomarino from a script by Kevin A. rice. With John David’s rise up the Hollywood rankings, it’s easy to see how this movie debuted at #1 on Netflix.
As most know, John David Washington is the son of Denzel Washington. What many may not know is that John David played professional soccer before turning to acting. John David was not drafted in the 2006 NFL Draft, but was eventually signed by then-St. louis rams. after being cut by the Rams, he was re-signed with his practice squad. washington also played for the rhein fire in nfl europe in 2007.
With his football career in limbo, Washington then moved on to the United Football League, where he played for the Sacramento Mountain Lions for five seasons until the league abruptly ended.
being the son of a hollywood legend like denzel washington should win some favor, right? Perhaps at first he did, as one of John David’s earliest films was with Denzel Washington in his father’s crime thriller noir Devil in a Blue Dress. John David was only 10 years old when he appeared in his father’s movie, and it was nothing more than a small role as a kid with a toy rifle. To date, this would be the only time he and his father would appear on screen together.
the rest, john david had to figure it out himself. and boy did he do it. John David’s resume isn’t nearly as lavish as Denzel’s, but he’s well on his way to making his own mark. His first big role came in 2015 when Dwayne Johnson cast him on the HBO series Ballers. John David played Ricky Jerret for five seasons on the popular series.
During those five seasons, John David also began to find feature films to his liking. He was seen in love with rhymes, monsters and men, and monsters before he was really eye-opening with his performance as Ron Stallworth in Spike Lee’s Blackkklansman. The role would earn him Golden Globe Award and Washington Screen Actors Guild Award nominations. maybe there’s a bit of denzel washington in it after all.
john david would carry that success into his next film, the old man and the gun, where he starred opposite another screen legend, robert redford. Apparently, Washington’s career caught the attention of the great director Christopher Nolan, because the director of the Dark Knight trilogy hired Washington to play the lead role of him in the amazing debut film.
with beckett on the bench, john david washington has a couple of projects lined up. one is a david or. Russell project that has Washington acting alongside some Hollywood heavyweights like Robert De Niro, Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, Zoe Saldana, Rami Malek, Mike Myers and Anya-Taylor Joy. the other project is titled true love and will star alongside danny mcbride.
you can watch the new john david washington movie, beckett, on netflix.