It’s good to see Kevin Costner back. In early January he returned with a decent supporting appearance in Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, and now he adds a starring role in 3 Days To Kill. The man seems to be making a full on comeback, only I wish it was something better than the latest flick from director McG.
Costner plays Ethan Rennerm a skilled FBI agent. One of their best. Only he spent so much time at work that has taken its toll on his personal life. He’s estranged from his teenage daughter, a problem made worse by his separation from his wife and his total commitment to his work. Only he has to find a way to change that because he finds out that he is sick with cancer, and only given three months to live (not three days, as the false marketing would leave you to believe).
He finds this out the hard way, after a mission gone bad where his target, a man called The Albino (Tómas Lemarquis), gets away. Ethan had him in his reach, but right before he could finish the job, his sickness kicked in and he passes out. The FBI thanks him for his services, and lets him live out the rest of his three months anyway he chooses.
Just when he thinks he’s out, a FBI agent named Vivi Delay (Amber Heard) just happens to have a new experimental drug that could potentially save his life. The only catch? He would have to work for them again. They need his service in order to bring down a dangerous arms trafficker known as The Wolf, the man who The Albino works for. No one knows what The Wolf looks like, but apparently Ethan got a look at him during the last mission, and didn’t even realize it.
In between all this, he has to play daddy to his daughter, promising his wife that his old days of being a FBI agent are long gone. He has to find a way of balancing his time between agent duty, and father duty, something that gets mixed up quite often during the film. It’s supposed to be hilarious, but after a few stints of it the routine becomes tiresome.
McG’s direction is unabashedly bland, and not nearly as funny as he thinks it is. Luc Besson and Adi Hasak’s script doesn’t do him any favors. Kevin Costner’s talents are all but wasted in a role that has the actor just running through the motions. It really felt like the guy had three days to kill and just opted to make the simplest picture imaginable. Young Hailee Steinfeld is all grown up in this role, doing the best with what she is given. But when a 17-year-old seems to be out-performing a movie, you know there’s a problem. Amber Heard is a sexy fit for the role, but her character becomes grating and silly as the film goes on.
3 Days To Kill is a sloppy mixed bag, entertaining in ways, but excruciating in others. If you’ve seen enough movies, the twist that comes towards the end is something you’ll see coming a mile away, as it’s the only explanation to the role of a certain character who seems all but useless until then.
I left the theater wondering if there could have been a decent flick to be found somewhere with this material, but I couldn’t help feeling too relieved that it was all over to really care.
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