Mel Gibson’s biggest success was directing a gory retelling of the Crucifixion in The Passion of the Christ. So it’s fitting that Gibson should himself be subject to a bloody resurrection as one of the stars of The Continental: From The World of John Wick (Amazon Prime Video). As the laboured title outlines, Prime Video’s new mini-series is a spin-off of the action franchise starring Keanu Reeves as a hitman in a natty suit. Yet it’s also a continuation of the saga of Gibson, the actor who managed to get himself cancelled before cancel culture was even a thing.
He leaps head-first into the fray, his performance popping up with pent-up energy. But if a testament to his ability to survive the slings and arrows of public disapproval, The Continental is hardly a showcase for Gibson’s thespian chops. He plays Cormac O’Connor – not an obscure early 20th-century Irish poet, but the custodian of the eponymous Continental, a New York hotel that doubles as a refuge for hired killers.
In the John Wick movies, the hotel is the domain of Ian McShane’s dapper Winston Scott. This Continental is set in the Seventies, when a young Winston (Colin Woodell) is summoned to New York from London. His wayward brother Frankie (Ben Robson) has stolen a priceless heirloom from Cormac and his trigger-happy minions, including a his ’n’ hers duo of psychotic twins with matching page-boy haircuts. Winston’s mission is to track down Frankie and save him from Cormac.
