Criminal (2016)

Really Surprised!

Great Film overall

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

What a GREAT movie! I think these days movie critics are idiots. They gave this movie a terrible rating. I believe their awful comments were at least partially responsible for the movie's poor box office perforance. Me? I don't think I even blinked from the first scene through the last. I don't care if it was "impossible or "improbable" I was completely entertained. Not to mention an all star cast, that performed to the top of their game. Obviously, I loved it.

I despise movies where the premise is beyond credible. So after reading the reviews I decided I did not want to see another Face Off type transplant story. But wow, was I ever wrong. What I was missing is one of the best characters ever created by an actor and that was Kevin Costner's doing. He develops a totally believable and absolutely impeccable portrait of a sick psychopath who is greatly affected by an unapproved medical procedure. What is great is that he is not politically correct, weak, or conflicted. It makes him incredibly interesting in the age of weak males pandering to everyone. He gets to glimpse a normal life through the eyes of a strong man who is also moral which is the Ryan Reynolds character. He also gets to feel the love of a daughter and beautiful wife which he had never known before. All of the actors are great but Costner raised my opinion of his acting ability by a mile. The story and production is also excellent with an ending that is quite satisfying.

A cross between a sci-fi movie and a convoluted CIA thriller, "Criminal" is neither fish nor fowl but a better than average cast, (Kevin Costner, Gary Oldman, Tommy Lee Jones, Michael Pitt and an underused Ryan Reynolds), and some first-rate action sequences do go some way towards making up for the huge lapses in credibility; some way, but not enough to make this feel like something out of the Jason Bourne franchise. It's also a bit of a stretch to accept Costner, now 62, as a no-holds-barred action hero even if his over-the-top, cast-against-type performance is hugely entertaining. Also on the plus side, director Ariel Vromen makes excellent use of his London locations though to be fair, this could have been filmed anywhere. It's certainly watchable and Douglas Cook and David Weisberg's script does play on the comic potentials of the situation, though you get the impression that Oldman, Jones and especially Reynolds are only in it for the money.

Criminal is a good movie with a well developed plot and a stellar cast. It's a really interesting story that is almost immediately grabbing as you will find yourself curious as to what will happen next. The all star cast is phenomenal, particularly Kevin Costner in one of his best roles in years. He delivers a very believable, dedicated performance that had me from start to finish. It can be quite cheesy at times, which would be the biggest reason as to why it falls flat. There is a lot of one on one dialogue, particularly between Costner and Gal Gadot, that is clear that the writers went over it once and just left it as it was, never looking back over and trying to make it more real, less cringe inducing. It is also very slow moving. Running at about twenty minutes longer than is necessary, what starts off as a very intriguing plot goes on to become tedious, as it lingers on a lot of plot points and gives more development than we as an audience really wanted. It's entertaining, but in no way groundbreaking. A great cast and thrilling moments, Criminal is riddled with flaws, but it is worth the watch if you are looking for a good crime drama, just do not go out of your way to see it. A murdered operative's memory is implanted in to a criminal in hopes that he will complete his mission. Best Performance: Gary Oldman