3 Days to kill (2014)

This movie was directed by a guy named "McG." I don't remember it having any kind of tie-in with McDonald's when it came out, but it seems like his movie should be ripe for one. I actually just watched an episode of Supernatural where I saw his name pop up, and I remembered it. If he had gone with his real name of Joseph McGinty Nichol, I would probably have not remembered it, so I guess building a recognizable personal brand has paid off in some respect for McG.

Luc Besson wrote this movie and co-produced it, so that automatically gives me some hope with action scenes. He was elbow-deep in the Transporter series, and they were heavy on action and kind of weak on story. They did a good job of developing some of the characters, though, so I still have pretty high hopes.

Kevin Costner hit a high in his career after Field of Dreams and Dances with Wolves, but then he did Waterworld and The Postman, and he has kind of struggled to find a voice in his career. I very much liked Mr. Brooks, even though Dane Cook dulled much of the movie with his less than stellar acting. For this movie, Kevin plays a CIA operative who is close to retirement and then he finds out that he has cancer, so he heads to Paris to try to reconnect with his wife and daughter.

Hailee Steinfeld plays the daughter, and Connie Nielsen plays his estranged wife. The wife doesn't have a whole lot of acting to do, and the daughter plays a teenage daughter who harbors a lot of resentment toward her absentee father. So, neither of them has to do too much. Most of the conflict is inside Kevin's head, as his wife and daughter seem pretty accepting of him given how he had essentially abandoned them for so many years. The whole story with his daughter could have been a lot more interesting, but it just wasn't.

Amber Heard is the CIA lady who tries to get Kevin to continue hunting down the last guy who got away from him. She dangles a carrot in front of him and seems to toy with him like a cat playing with a mouse for no particular reason. I can't imagine anyone with that personality actually making to that level in the CIA or any other large organization. She was very pretty, if that's a consolation.

Direction was okay
Cinematography was mediocre
Acting was good
Story was weak
Dialog was decent



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