Review: 3 Days to Kill

Kevin Costner is a CIA man who quits the job when he finds out he has terminal brain cancer and three months to live. He decides to visit his estranged ex-wife (Connie Nielsen) and teen daughter (Hailee Steinfeld) in Paris, in the hopes of reconnecting before it’s too late. The kid doesn’t make it easy for him, but when mum has to go out of town on business, Costner volunteers to babysit, hoping for some father-surly teen bonding. It doesn’t really go to well, but it’s not just because Steinfeld is resistant. He’s also being stalked by ambitious and vampish CIA handler Vivi (Amber Heard), who wants Costner’s help in killing terrorists named The Albino (Tomas Lemarquis) and The Wolf (Richard Sammel). If he agrees to do this, Vivi will give Costner an experimental drug that will allow him to live a bit longer. Thing is, he has already promised Nielsen that he’s out of the spy gig for good. He thinks about it for about ten seconds before the temptation of the drug (and the chance to nab the arms dealer and henchman he would’ve nailed in the opening scene had he not blacked-out due to the tumour) is just too good to pass up. If it’s on the level, mind you. Can Vivi even be trusted?

 

Plot-wise it’s too close to the direct-to-DVD Aaron Eckhart thriller “The Expatriate” for comfort, but I can’t say I didn’t enjoy this silly 2014 action-thriller from director McG (“This Means War”, “Terminator: Salvation”) and screenwriters Adi Hasak (the awful “Shadow Conspiracy”) and the inimitable Luc Besson (“La Femme Nikita”, “The Professional”, “The Fifth Element”). It’s easy to see the Besson influence here, as the scenes with Amber Heard’s very fatal femme are played so broadly that they render the film a bit schizophrenic in tone. If that character wasn’t a Besson invention, I’d be shocked. Mind you, both Hazak and Besson contributed to the screenplay of “From Paris With Love”, another extremely silly (but highly watchable) action-thriller with very wacky, absurd elements. That one was a bit more assured in its blend of comedy and action though, I have to say. But whatever this film’s flaws, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t find it enjoyable and diverting enough.

 

Although character actor Raymond J. Barry is the first face you’ll see (And I’m contractually obligated to inform you that ‘wrong kid died’), it’s creepy bald albino Tomas Lemarquis who quickly steals your attention. It’s got a good, exciting opener, and Kevin Costner seems in slightly better shape than Gary Cooper in “The Wreck of the Mary Deare”. All obscure film geek kidding aside, it’s a suitable role for him and far from his worst vehicle in what, the last 20 years or so worth of mostly stinkers? This is the kind of troubled, weary character that could easily allowed Costner to phone in a monotonous performance, so I’m glad to report that Costner turned up for filming with his working boots on. He’s the best asset the film has.

 

The film is your standard globe-trotting spy/assassin stuff in some ways (and the father-daughter stuff is very much like “The Expatriate”), but Costner’s character and performance are interesting enough to make it a little more than just that. The lovely scenery shot by Thierry Arbogast (“The Fifth Element”, “Catwoman”) helps, too. Yes, Amber Heard is included in that lovely scenery, too. Damn you to hell, Johnny Depp! While you can tell that the very lightweight but proficient and slick McG is at the helm, the action scenes are silly but enjoyable, stopping short of John Woo nonsense. No two guns and doves bursting out sort of nonsense here. Meanwhile, it’s not the best use of Connie Nielsen, but it was nice to see her on screen for what seems like the first time in forever. She’s terrific with what she has been given here, and has aged rather beautifully as well. Some won’t like Heard in this, but I see her as the biggest Besson element in the film, and she’s clearly acting as directed and written. She’s like something out of a graphic novel and I think it’s intentional. However, there’s no doubt that the film has an identity crisis that stops it from being better than it is. I mean, the father-daughter stuff is a bit sitcom-like in terms of writing (absolutely no fault of Costner’s).

 

It’s a lumpy film where the parts don’t quite gel into a whole, and yet those parts are individually interesting and enjoyable enough to make the whole experience diverting enough. Costner is ideally cast and seems to be giving a shit, too. An eternity in an imaginary Hell for whichever dumbfuck thought red and white end credits was a great idea. Arsehole, probably the same arsehole who thought we needed subtitles for a guy speaking bloody English with a perfectly decipherable French accent. What was up with that?

 

Rating: B-