'3 Days to Kill': A jumbled dad thriller starring Kevin Costner
Please note: This article is published as an archive copy from Philadelphia City Paper. My City Paper is not affiliated with Philadelphia City Paper. Philadelphia City Paper was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The last edition was published on October 8, 2015.
[Grade: C] While no one expects McG to create a movie that doesn't look like an exploding disco ball, his latest endeavor is so tone-deaf that it almost seems intentional.
City Paper grade: C
While no one expects Joseph McGinty "McG" Nichol to create a movie that doesn't look like an exploding disco ball, his latest endeavor is so tone-deaf that it almost seems intentional. Co-written by Luc Besson, 3 Days to Kill is blessed with that action master's Euro sensibilities and little else. And yet it still provides blasts of undeniable entertainment, wedged into the weirdest possible places. Kevin Costner, following Liam Neeson's lead into the contemporary "dad thriller" genre, is a grizzled spy who discovers he's terminally ill. In exchange for an experimental drug, plus the chance to reconnect with his estranged wife (Connie Nielsen) and kid (Hailee Steinfeld), he accepts an assignment from a CIA handler (Amber Heard) to track and kill a terrorist (Richard Sammel) in Paris. It's not easy to juggle shootouts and familial strife, but McG does a remarkably poor job of balancing the scales, muddling gun fights, mild torture and father-daughter heart-to-hearts together in the world's most demented molcajete. The strangest player in all of this might be Heard, whose wig-wearing, set-gnawing sex-predator spymaster comes off like a mad scientist's botched attempt at cross-breeding Lady Gaga and the emcee from Cabaret.
