Review of “3 Days to Kill”

Warning! Contains Spoilers

Most modern film promotion approaches the intensity of water boarding. It’s nice to have a little change every now and again. Take “3 Days to Kill”. A trailer appeared on screen many months ago. “That looks ok” I said. Since then nothing. Suddenly a friend reminds me that it is out. There are worse things to do on a Monday. Show time!

Ethen Renner (Kevin Costner) is a badass old school CIA killer. He must wrestle with the need to stop terrorist acquiring nuclear material while at the same time calling his daughter (Hailee Steinfeld) to wish her a happy birthday.  Thankfully the later saves his life and allows him to complete the former. However, before he can apprehend the baddy, our American hero is struck down and loses consciousness due to an unforeseen force. Cancer. Brain cancer to be precise. He has three months to live. Renner retires from his cloak and dagger life to try and reconnect with his long lost family before THE END. His wife (Connie Nielsen) is wary, his daughter is (of course) an angst teenager and squatters have moved into his Parisian flat. In walks badass new school CIA killer Vivi (Amber Heard). She has a possible cure and loads of cash if only Costner will go back to his killing ways. Now Renner must balance hunting down his prey while trying to mend his home life. This occurs with preposterous results.

One man vs. two armoured cars full of bad guys. Who wins? Did I mention the one guy was an American?

Cards on the table – this was a pleasant surprise. McG (I shit you not this is the director’s name) has managed something with a story that shouldn’t really work. And I just know most people will not agree. In cooking you have to always come back to flavour. When making a film you must always come back to tone. No chef wants to actually mix cheese and chocolate and no director wants to figuratively do the same. Some things just don’t work so you leave them out or create a great big mess in the attempt. “3 Days to Kill” tries to mix family drama, a slick spy thriller, gun waving action, redemption for previous sins, vengeance and a bit of almost Marx brothers style humour. All these elements are poured into the blender and the switch is flipped. It’s at this point that I came under its magic spell. “3 Days to Kill” is so smooth with its jarring elements (almost nonchalant) that it doesn’t even try to make them work. The audience must simply accept the absurdity and move on. It does this without being at all condescending. This movie must have been created by mates sitting round a table, drinking a few beers.  

Vivi in full bitch mode

How absurd? At one point Costner must drag a kidnapped banker back to his home to interrogate him. This is only slightly inconvenienced by the West African family that now live in his flat, forcing him to conduct his cross examination in the privacy of the bathroom. Moments from unleashing precise violence upon the banker, he receives a call from his daughter who is desperate for a spaghetti sauce recipe to impress her boyfriend. One the one hand out hero must interrogate the bad guy but he is desperate to connect with his daughter. By which point he realises that his soon to be victim is Italian… It’s all as ridiculous as dark chocolate ravioli but oh how I chortled!

Silly purple bike or metaphor for a father’s attempt to connect with his daughter. You choose.

Costner is usually garnished with criticism for playing douchebags or stoic hero type douchebags. I must say it is refreshing to see he can still pull of some slick action scenes. “3 Days to Kill” has some of that gritty euro/spy thriller type action that manages to be less dark than “Ronin” and less outlandish than any Bond. However, I have credit for the family story arch. I found the whole thing rather down to earth. The right mix of cliché and genuine exasperation that every household must deal with. It’s all rather heart warningly late evening drama on the TV than action movie sub plot. Amber Heard adds some spice to this mix. Her character is introduced as an All American office clone (CIA officer worker that is) but there must be something in the water on Virgin Atlantic flights because in Paris she really blows the budget. Vivi comes across as a dominatrix spy master. Her wardrobe and wig collection would put “The Matrix” to shame. Renner’s meetings with her are so surreal that one wonders if they are a cancer hallucination or if she is actually playing the Devil, come to tempt our home healing hero. Good stuff.

The Devil or rogue agent?

That’s about all there is to say regarding “3 Days to Kill”. I found it charming but not self-indulgent. It worked for me. I hope you like it too. Chew it over and see what you think.

I give “3 Days to Kill” a very solid (and I’m sure controversial) four Brian faces out of five.