“3 Days to Kill” is the new action-thriller adapted from Luc Besson [“Taken”, “The Family”, “From Paris with Love”] and stars Kevin Costner as Ethan Renner, a dying CIA agent who is offered an experimental drug whilst trying to reconnect with his estranged daughter.
3 Days to Kill – The Good:
“3 Days to Kill” hopes to revive kevin Costner’s movie career, and its a good start as the movie relies entirely on his performance. He shows that he’s still got it especially when it comes to the drama moments where Ethan is trying to reconnect with his family.
He handles the action scenes really well and this film does the same for him as what “Taken” did for Liam Neeson and turned him into a global action star.
Amber Heard [“Drive Angry”], stars as a shadowy CIA boss who gives Ethan his last assignment in exchange for an experimental drug that could save his life.
Hailee Steinfeld [“True Grit”, “Enders Game”], stars as Ethan’s daughter and is there is great chemistry between her and Costner that highlight the best comic moments in the movie.
Director MCG is great when it comes to action and the film is filled with some eye popping set pieces, one involving a high speed car chase around the famous locations in Paris, a club brawl as well as an excellent opening set sequence where Ethan has stop an arms trafficker known only as the “wolf”.
3 Days to Kill – The Bad:
The film is heavily focused on action more than characters which are weak in places, especially the villains as we are given no real insight into what their motive is there is no real menace either as Ethan quickly dispatches the “Wolf’s” henchmen one-by-one. This would be a walk in the park for Liam Neeson’s Brian Mills in “Taken”. Its basically good versus evil with no real plot or structure.
3 Days to Kill – Conclusion:
Overall, “3 Days to Kill” is an entertaining and solid action film that is not to be taken seriously. It features a great performance from kevin Costner that could just give his movie career the revamp it needs. Mindless Friday night fun, switch off your brain and enjoy the ride.