With installments released within a short time from each other, the Detective Knight film series becomes a trilogy and sends its title character off with Detective Knight: Independence. In the franchise, Bruce Willis plays a cop who goes out of his way to bring down criminals to justice after repeatedly seeing the justice system fail his work. In order to tease the third and final installment of the franchise, Lionsgate shared with Collider an exclusive trailer for the upcoming movie. The distribution company also confirmed the release date for the threequel, and we can now officially announce it premieres in select theaters, on Demand and Digital in just a month, on January 20.
The trailer reveals that Detective Knight: Independence’s title is pretty much reflected in the title character’s demeanor. Tired of seeing criminals walking away scot-free, James Knight takes less and less crap from everybody and continues to do whatever it takes to fight crime. The trailer also provides some insight into Knight’s way of thinking, when he states that a good cop doesn’t sleep well so that others can.
Bad Cop, Good Cop, New Cop
The new installment will see the addition of Jack Kilmer (The Stanford Prison Experiment) as a young cop wannabe whose short fuse and methods have a pretty clear influence. The problem is, for a newcomer to come into such a stressful job with limited patience and no training means that what he witnesses will certainly take its toll as the story progresses.
Knight Says Goodbye... and so Does Bruce Willis
Detective Knight: Independence is directed by Edward Drake, who sees the franchise through after helming the previous two installments. The filmmaker also pens the script along with Corey Large (Paradise City). Over the last few years, Drake worked with Willis multiple times, directing the action star’s work in titles like Gasoline Alley, American Siege, and Cosmic Sin.
One of the last titles starred by Willis, Detective Knight: Independence marks the beginning of a farewell to the Die Hard legend after he announced his retirement. Earlier this year, Willis' family announced he was stepping away from acting after being diagnosed with aphasia. The condition hinders cognitive abilities causing difficulty with speech and impacting the ability to interpret what others are saying. The actor has some other titles to come out in 2023, but next year will probably be the last one we see Willis on our screens.
Detective Knight: Independence premieres in select theaters, on Demand and Digital on January 20. A little over a month later, on February 28, the movie hits shelves on DVD and Blu-ray. You can watch the exclusive trailer and new poster below:
Check out the official synopsis here:
Bruce Willis stars as Detective James Knight in this final, tense chapter of the trilogy. Knight’s last-minute assignment to the Independence Day shift turns into a race to stop an unbalanced ambulance EMT from imperiling the city’s festivities. The misguided vigilante, playing cop with a stolen gun and uniform, has a bank vault full of reasons to put on his own fireworks show...one that will strike dangerously close to Knight’s home.