MAYHEM Trailer (2024) Nassim Lyes, Action Movie

MAYHEM Trailer (2024) Nassim Lyes, Action Movie

MAYHEM Trailer (2024) Nassim Lyes, Action Movie
© 2023 - IFC Films

Acclaimed action director Xavier Gens returned to the festival circuit this year in stylish fashion with his new French-language action thriller Mayhem! (Farang). Starring former MMA fighter Nassim Lyes, the film earned plaudits from critics in attendance at this year's Fantasia Film Festival for choreography and sequences that earned favorable comparisons to The Raid and John Wick. Now, Collider is excited to exclusively share a new trailer for the film ahead of its release next year that shows off the brutal action eye-candy interwoven with a classic tale of vengeance.

At the heart of Mayhem! is the story of a father and ex-convict named Sam (Lyes) whose past catches up with him in the worst way possible. After getting wrapped up with a local crime lord before the end of his prison sentence, Sam flees to Thailand to start a new life. Several years later, he's finally found freedom with a loving wife (Loryn Nounay) and a young daughter in their idyllic beachfront home. Everything is suddenly ripped away from him again, however, when the ruthless crime boss Narong (Olivier Gourmet) forces him back into the criminal underworld. When Sam wants out, Narong attacks him and his family, forcing the ex-con to fight for his life against his would-be executioner and get back his daughter in a Taken-style revenge plot.

The trailer is almost all action set around the context of Sam's pursuit of his daughter. From dingy hallways full of thugs to neon nightclubs in the heart of Thailand, Mayhem! spreads its breathtaking action around a variety of settings where the environment plays a part in the violence. Each melee is snappy and remarkably brutal, as Sam breaks bones and smashes faces with ease. He's nothing if not a fighter, but he's also found a few common allies ready to aid him in taking down Narong and saving his family. Even they seemingly begin to fear, however, that he's becoming a monster amid his lust for revenge.

'Mayhem!' Is Xavier Gens's Bloody Return to Action Filmmaking
mayhem-nassim-lyesImage via IFC Films
Brutal hand-to-hand action is exactly Gens's forte as a director, but his last action film came back in 2017 with the Ray Stevenson-led horror actioner Cold Skin. Mayhem! aims to return to his talents for ceaseless violence as demonstrated in his 2007 Hitman adaptation and his episodes of the hit series Gangs of London. Helping him pen the script are Magali Rossitto and Guillaume Lemans, the latter of whom previously co-wrote Paul Haggis's starry crime drama The Next Three Days featuring Russel Crowe, Elizabeth Banks, and Liam Neeson. With a mix of brutality and heart, Mayhem! hopes to be a wild ride for genre fans everywhere.

Mayhem! will be released by IFC Films on January 5, 2024. Check out the exclusive trailer below: