By Riaz Mamdani
Staff Writer
Everyone knows that first attempts are not the best. For director McG, his first attempt at directing an action move proved to be disastrous.
Teaming up with Luke Besson, who directed Taken, McG’s “3 Days to Kill” disappoints viewers with terrible attempts at comedy along with a boring and undynamic plot. Although the movie has some engaging action scenes, it still doesn’t make up for the films overall terribleness.
The film follows grizzled CIA agent Ethan (Kevin Costner) after he is diagnosed with a virulent form of cancer and learns he has only months to live. With only a short amount of time left, Ethan travels back to France to visit his estranged daughter and wife. Promising his family he’s done working for “them”, being the CIA, sure enough a new job offer comes up, this time promising a cure for his ailment.
For Ethan, his new boss Vivi (Amber Heard) instructs him to kill a man he has seen before known as “The Wolf”, a dangerous nuclear weapons dealer on the CIA’s most wanted list, and his companion “The Albino”. Unfortunately his new assignment coincides with his time taking care of his daughter while her mom is away on a business trip.
McG’s attempt at humor is terrible. He interrupts Ethan’s torture scenes, having him ask for parenting advice, and spaghetti recipes. The overall stupidity of this humor is unbearable. There was also a wide variety of other scenes throughout the movie with lame jokes and lazy humor.
Throughout the film there is a wide array of brilliantly filmed shoot outs and car chases, adding to the movie as a whole. Most of the scenes can be attributed back to co-director Besson, due to his technical skills as a masterful action director, but they don’t quite compensate for the films terrible sense of humor and undynamic plot.
Having aging oscar winner Kevin Costner as the quirky protagonist is almost like a life-support for the film. With lazy and uninteresting attempts at humor, Costner’s quirky yet wistful personality keeps the audience attached to the film.
Along with Costner’s wistful personality comes a series of scenes where Ethan tries to reconnect with his estranged daughter and make up for all the time he wasn’t there. The film also had never before seen scenes like Ethan teaching his daughter Zooey how to ride a bike at the age of 16, and riding a flying chairs roller coaster with his daughter all add to the unique blend of the film.
In the end, “3 days to kill” was nothing to ride home about. The film, with boring attempts at comedy, and underdeveloped plot leaves viewers unsatisfied. Although the film had some great action scenes, and good actors it did not fully compensate for all the flaws the movie contained.
“3 Days to Kill” is rated PG-13 and is playing in theaters nationwide.
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