3 Days to Kill, 2014.
Directed by McG.
Starring Kevin Costner, Amber Heard, Hailee Steinfield and Connie Nielsen
Synopsis
A terminally ill CIA Agent is offered an experimental drug in exchange for one more assignment.
To say that 3 Days to Kill has a convoluted plot is a massive understatement. From the synopsis you’d expect this to be a taught Taken-esque thriller; instead we get a genre combination of thriller, action, adventure, family drama and comedy which simply just doesn’t work.
The film’s opening action sequence is hugely entertaining and Kevin Costner plays ageing CIA agent Ethan Renner well. Once we find out that he’s dying from brain cancer the film takes a completely different turn as Renner returns to Paris to spend time with his estrange wife (Connie Nielsen) and teenage daughter (Hailee Steinfield). Things bumble on nicely for a while as Renner comes across an absurdly friendly family squatting in his apartment and he makes a haphazard attempt to reconnect with his daughter. And then the plot takes another twist with the arrival of sultry CIA agent Vivi (Amber Heard). Renner is given the opportunity of a lifesaving drug in exchange for one last assignment and it seems as if this film might finally become the action soaked film the trailers promised – unfortunately this isn’t the case.
The film continually moves between action scenes, comedy set pieces and awkward family scenarios and it gets to the point where you’re just willing the film to decide on one direction to go. The cast do well with what’s given to them and Costner is entertaining as Ethan Renner and he more than holds his own during the various action set pieces. He also proves that he has good comic timing and can still deliver a stellar one liner. But the script for this film is so weak that it’s a frustrating watch.
Character development is a major flaw with this film. We’re never told why Renner and his wife are estranged except for the obvious fact that he kills people on a day to day basis. We’re never told why Amber Heard’s Vivi begins the film as a conservative CIA agent and then transforms into a femme fatale after the opening credits, seemingly changing her hair and costumer in every other scene and arranging for meetings at strip clubs etc. Along with this Renner’s character development is almost non-existent and other than the fact that he’s dying and a good man to have around in a fight, we know almost nothing about him. Hailee Steinfield who’s been brilliant in other roles plays a typically bratty teenager and we learn almost nothing other than the fact that she has some Daddy issues.
The comedy throughout the film is its one saviour as it speeds the film along and shows us why Kevin Costner used to be a hugely bankable star. His scenes with Mitat Yilmaz as an unwilling informant are hugely entertaining and offer many of the film’s laughs and lighter moments. An amusing kidnapping scene between Renner and his captive Guido is also added in to break up the tension, it’s just a shame that this film never knows what it wants to be.
If they had gone straight down the family drama route then we could have had a delightful black comedy. If they had gone all out action then it would have been something akin to Taken or another Liam Neeson action vehicle. Instead director McG does his usual mistake and tries to amalgamate every genre under the sun into a running time of 2 hours. Written by Luc Besson and Adi Hasak, it’s disappointing that they weren’t able to do more with what is actually a great idea for a film.
3 Days to Kill is entertaining in places but it’s a difficult film to sit through and it plods along at a snail’s pace in some places. Costner is delightfully watchable and it’s good to see him taking the lead in a film again and hopefully this film will mark a return of sorts for him. Unfortunately 3 Days to Kill is a frustrating film to watch because it could have been so good.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Helen Murdoch
Originally published June 22, 2014. Updated April 13, 2018.
