3 Days to Kill
Directed by: McG
Written by: Adi Hasak, Luc Besson
Starring: Kevin Costner, Hailee Steinfeld, Connie Nielsen, Amber Heard, Tomas Lemarquis, Richard Sammel, Marc Andreoni, Bruno Ricci, Jonas Bloquet, Eriq Ebouaney
Action/Crime/Drama/Thriller - 117 min
Written by: Adi Hasak, Luc Besson
Starring: Kevin Costner, Hailee Steinfeld, Connie Nielsen, Amber Heard, Tomas Lemarquis, Richard Sammel, Marc Andreoni, Bruno Ricci, Jonas Bloquet, Eriq Ebouaney
Action/Crime/Drama/Thriller - 117 min
There will always be one last job. “I got out and they pulled me back in,” comes to mind. Most of the time, it is the mob or a variation of a gang of thieves who make an offer the hero cannot refuse. In 3 Days to Kill, it is the CIA. They want a master arms dealer dead and the only guy who has ever seen him is a terminally ill CIA medically retired hit man. Of course, the CIA will send him all over Paris without backup or too much logistical support to remove the threat. Logic is not 3 Days to Kill’s strong suit, but surprisingly given the ridiculous premise, the movie is an average, almost likeable, action film.
Ethan Renner (Kevin Costner) is supposed to relax and maintain a calm heart rate. If his blood pressure gets pumping, his brain cancer or whatever it is causes him to pass out, usually when he is just about to kill a bad guy giving him the opportunity to escape. Co-written by Luc Besson, the brains behind The Transporter franchise and the Taken series among others, Ethan isn’t the most skilled at martial arts or taking down an entire building full of bad guys, but he’ll get the job done.
What works in 3 Days to Kill’s favor is Ethan’s start and stop family life. Due to his frequent absenteeism from home, he took off full time five years ago and now tries to reintegrate with his wife, Christine (Connie Nielsen), and teenage daughter, Zoey (Hailee Steinfeld). The awkward dynamics and Ethan’s flustered attempts to become more than a stranger are helped along by the script whisking mom away on a business trip so dad must play Mr. Mom for three days.
There are cheesier moments involving bicycle lessons and a side mission never mentioned again to save Zoey after it appears she is doused with a date rape drug. On the whole though, it is the action film’s tender side that makes it stronger. What holds it back and causes a tidal wave of audience eye rolls is another CIA agent on the scene, Vivi (Amber Heard). Half puppet master, half dominatrix, she pushes Ethan to keep killing bad guys by holding a promised antidote over his head to delay or cure his brain cancer. Yes, that is as preposterous as it sounds.
Making the rounds across Paris kidnapping middle men, some light to medium torture, and the inevitable shoot-em-up scenes are interchangeable. We are not supposed to follow the logic trail on who does what in the crime syndicate or what are the bad guys plans now. The point is to get to a particular building or street chase to witness a McG action sequence. McG, the director of the Charlie’s Angels movies with perhaps the most pretentious name in Hollywood, takes us through some effective gunfights, one on par car chase, and one laudable shootout outside a hotel that kicks off the film.
What 3 Days to Kill lacks in the ‘makes sense’ department it somewhat covers up for in the ‘that’s a new way to take out a villain’ department. While noticeably superior to some recent Luc Besson inspired thrillers (Taken 2, The Family), 3 Days to Kill does not come close to his masterpieces (The Fifth Element, Leon: The Professional). Kevin Costner performs well in a physically demanding role we have not seen from him since perhaps Waterworld (1995); remember, he is only a guiding mentor in Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit. It’s good to see Costner gets his hands dirty again.
Juggling assassinations and torture sessions with picking his daughter up from school is an odd choice for the filmmakers to want to base their action foundation on, but there have been worse setups. The 3 Days to Kill cheese is at least served with a somewhat enjoyable glass of red wine.
Ethan Renner (Kevin Costner) is supposed to relax and maintain a calm heart rate. If his blood pressure gets pumping, his brain cancer or whatever it is causes him to pass out, usually when he is just about to kill a bad guy giving him the opportunity to escape. Co-written by Luc Besson, the brains behind The Transporter franchise and the Taken series among others, Ethan isn’t the most skilled at martial arts or taking down an entire building full of bad guys, but he’ll get the job done.
What works in 3 Days to Kill’s favor is Ethan’s start and stop family life. Due to his frequent absenteeism from home, he took off full time five years ago and now tries to reintegrate with his wife, Christine (Connie Nielsen), and teenage daughter, Zoey (Hailee Steinfeld). The awkward dynamics and Ethan’s flustered attempts to become more than a stranger are helped along by the script whisking mom away on a business trip so dad must play Mr. Mom for three days.
There are cheesier moments involving bicycle lessons and a side mission never mentioned again to save Zoey after it appears she is doused with a date rape drug. On the whole though, it is the action film’s tender side that makes it stronger. What holds it back and causes a tidal wave of audience eye rolls is another CIA agent on the scene, Vivi (Amber Heard). Half puppet master, half dominatrix, she pushes Ethan to keep killing bad guys by holding a promised antidote over his head to delay or cure his brain cancer. Yes, that is as preposterous as it sounds.
Making the rounds across Paris kidnapping middle men, some light to medium torture, and the inevitable shoot-em-up scenes are interchangeable. We are not supposed to follow the logic trail on who does what in the crime syndicate or what are the bad guys plans now. The point is to get to a particular building or street chase to witness a McG action sequence. McG, the director of the Charlie’s Angels movies with perhaps the most pretentious name in Hollywood, takes us through some effective gunfights, one on par car chase, and one laudable shootout outside a hotel that kicks off the film.
What 3 Days to Kill lacks in the ‘makes sense’ department it somewhat covers up for in the ‘that’s a new way to take out a villain’ department. While noticeably superior to some recent Luc Besson inspired thrillers (Taken 2, The Family), 3 Days to Kill does not come close to his masterpieces (The Fifth Element, Leon: The Professional). Kevin Costner performs well in a physically demanding role we have not seen from him since perhaps Waterworld (1995); remember, he is only a guiding mentor in Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit. It’s good to see Costner gets his hands dirty again.
Juggling assassinations and torture sessions with picking his daughter up from school is an odd choice for the filmmakers to want to base their action foundation on, but there have been worse setups. The 3 Days to Kill cheese is at least served with a somewhat enjoyable glass of red wine.
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