This looked like it would be a straight forward and potentially entertaining action flick. It is easy to forget what a massive star Kevin Costner was in the 90s, as he is mainly playing supporting roles in films these days, so it was additionally interesting to see him heading up this movie.
He plays a CIA operative, Ethan Renner, charged with eliminating a dangerous terrorist in Serbia. The operation doesn’t go to plan. Renner ends up collapsing, and in hospital, he is told that he has terminal cancer, with just months to live. He resigns from his job and moves to Paris to reconcile with his estranged wife (Christine, Connie Nielsen) and 16 year old daughter (Zooey, Hailee Steinfeld). However, he is pulled back in for one last job when he is told that he will be given an experimental new drug that could extend his lifespan.
You can see from his CV that the director McG is a bit of a hack, with credits such as both Charlies Angels films and Terminator Salvation. He handles the big action sequences efficiently enough without showing any originality. His idea of shooting Paris involves having the Eiffel Tower in the background of every outside scene.
However, those action scenes are much fewer than expected. Instead, most of the film concentrates on Renner’s attempts to connect with Zooey. In fact, the film gets pretty repetitive with Renner constantly being diverted from his mission by his daughter calling him at awkward moments, or by passing out because of his illness. So little time is given to the terrorist plot Renner has to do the bare minimum to locate the bad guys.
Though as they drive around Paris in a fleet of black range rovers, and include an albino with a limp in their crew they are pretty easy to spot, but they are not as inconspicuous as Renner’s boss Vivi. Her idea of being undercover seems to involve dressing like a dominatrix whilst speeding through the city streets. She appears at the start of the film at headquarters dressed normally, and no explanation is given for her transformation. We may only be halfway through the year, but I would wager that Vivi, who seems to have wandered off the set of Batman and Robin, will be the most ludicrous character that we will see in a film in 2014. Amber Heard, does all she can with the part, looking striking and camping it up.
The scenes involving Vivi really jar with the sombre ones involving Zooey and Christine. Then there is the very odd subplot of Renner’s flat having a family from Mali squatting in it, a series of scenes that again seem to come from a very different film. In the end, the bad guys are despatched in a workmanlike and predictable way, before a signposted and unnecessary epilogue.
So, this is sounding like a 2 or 3 out of 10 film. That score is elevated by some moments of humour involving Marc Andreoni as a hapless driver, the sheer bonkers nature of the story, and a couple of the performances. Costner is at home as the grizzled and conflicted agent, and Steinfeld is much better than the material deserves.
Rating 5 out of 10