Brandon Sklenar finally gets his leading-man moment in The Rescue, a new action thriller that looks to put a distinctly Western spin on the familiar Taken formula.
Sklenar stars as former rodeo cowboy Jamie Lee Betts, whose quiet existence is shattered when his daughter is kidnapped and held for ransom. Rather than wait for someone else to bring her home, he takes matters into his own hands, setting out to find her with only her devoted dog by his side. And, as such stories tend to demand, there appears to be very little he won’t do to get his daughter back.
The newly released trailer leans heavily into Sklenar’s rugged screen presence, placing him comfortably in leading-man territory as a father pushed to increasingly desperate measures. There are shades of the revenge and rescue thrillers audiences know well, but the rodeo background and contemporary Western setting give The Rescue its own flavour. Think Taken by way of the American frontier, with Sklenar swapping Liam Neeson’s particular set of skills for cowboy grit and determination.
It’s also a sizeable ensemble surrounding him, with Josh Lucas, Hassie Harrison, Lorelei Olivia Mote, Nick Searcy, Austin Amelio, Spencer Treat Clark, Tim Blake Nelson and Josh Duhamel rounding out the impressive cast list.
After steadily building his profile, The Rescue gives Sklenar the opportunity to carry an action vehicle firmly on his shoulders. And if the trailer is anything to go by, the film knows exactly what kind of stripped-back genre pleasure it’s selling: one desperate father, one missing daughter, one loyal dog, and a whole lot of people standing between him and bringing her home.
The Rescue is scheduled for release in Australian theatres on January 28th, 2027.
