Review: A Day to Die

Parole officer Kevin Dillon is forced to kill one of drug kingpin Leon’s enforcers. Now a disgruntled Leon feels Dillon owes him $2 million dollars and kidnaps Dillon’s pregnant wife as leverage to force Dillon into carrying out drug heists for him. To assist him in these gigs he enlists the aid of his former special ops-type comrades (including buddy Frank Grillo and Dillon’s estranged brother Capaldi), who disbanded after a botched hostage situation that involved a double-crossing corrupt police chief (Bruce Willis), who is in league with Leon. Johnny Messner turns up briefly as a cop.

 

More mediocrity from Bruce Willis, this 2022 outing comes from director Wes Miller (“Hell on the Border”) and screenwriters Rab Berry (“The Tracker” with Dolph Lundgren) and Scott Mallace (ditto). It’s a bit sad to see Kevin Dillon and Frank Grillo here, as I think they’re talents beyond what this film really deserves. The plot is workable enough but hardly innovative or surprising. Dillon is perfectly fine here but his character and situation are clichéd as hell, whilst Leon is a total wash as one of the villains. His henchman played by Curtis Nichols is frankly more intimidating. Think of Ving Rhames or Michael Jai White in the same role and then tell me you’re happy with Leon in the part. A very frail-looking Mr. Willis plays the other villain and…he’s been worse I guess. You can’t ask much of him under his current circumstances. Gianni Capaldi kinda convinces as Dillon’s estranged brother and kinda almost keeps his Scottish accent under wraps whilst playing an American. He’s actually not a bad actor, but he sure seems to be prolific for someone who isn’t terribly great.

 

The film is about on the same level as most of these recent Willis cheapies, but perhaps a bit more disappointing given the amount of familiar faces. Yes, Dillon and Frank Grillo (coasting) are still better than most of the actors Willis works with these days, but even they have been in much better form in other films, and working with much better material elsewhere.

 

A clichéd plot, a slumming cast, and barely modest returns. This one’s forgettable, especially given the actually not bad cast amassed here. Actors need to eat, I guess.

 

Rating: C

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