Thursday, February 20, 2014

3 DAYS TO KILL (D)


Bottom Line: Sloppily trying to balance the world of spies with life at home, 3 DAYS TO KILL comes off as an aggressively cobbled, uninspired-with-glimpses-of-hope mess.  It’s the off-kilter, lazily constructed and ill-conceived offspring of a drunken one-nighter between (the much better in both cases) TRUE LIES and Jean Reno’s THE PROFESSIONAL.  The thing here is that almost none of it is Costner’s fault – it’s a departure for him -  think THE BOURNE SENIORITY – and it’s great to have his loose, easy-going, cowboyish everyman persona back on the big screen.  His attempt at something different here is welcome.  The rest of the film, however…well, not so much.  Actually, not at all.  In trying to be too many things at once, this film comes off as a strange, offbeat and awkwardly clumsy beast. When it’s not taking none-too-subtle stabs at familial hardships or shoehorning in goofball attempts at humor, its engine spits and sputters forward on lazily choreographed action, recycled-from-the-same-script plot points and a poorly envisioned, big budget, sitcom-y premise.  The filmmakers try to make it all work, but the admittedly valiant yet exhaustive efforts make for an ambitiously bloated borefest.  Sparcely spunky but mostly clunky, without the effortless workmanship of KevCo on display, this flick would have only needed three minutes to kill our misguided enthusiasm.
 
Starring: Kevin Costner, Amber Heard and HaileeSteinfeld
Directed by: McG (CHARLIE’S ANGELS, THIS MEANS WAR and TERMINATOR SALVATION)
Rated: PG-13
Running time: 100 minutes
Studio description: In this heart pounding action-thriller, Kevin Costner is a dangerous international spy, who is determined to give up his high stakes life to finally build a closer relationship with his estranged wife and daughter, whom he's previously kept at arm's length to keep out of danger. But first, he must complete one last mission- even if it means juggling the two toughest assignments yet: hunting down the world's most ruthless terrorist and looking after his teenage daughter for the first time in ten years, while his wife is out of town. (c) Relativity
 

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