Criminal (2016)

"Hurt me... 
I hurt you worse"

Oh the cheese... The cheese!

A dead CIA agent's memories are implanted into a death-row inmate in a last ditch attempt to stop a diabolical scheme. 

This high concept "sci-fi-esque" film boasts an impressive cast so, as you do when a film features the likes of Kevin Costner and Gary Oldman, I went in on blind faith that it'd be worth seeing. 

Unfortunately, 'Criminal' proves that logic to be deeply, deeply flawed...

The film kicks off with Ryan Reynolds, a CIA agent, on the run from some bad guys in London. It had the same feel of films like the 'Bourne Identity', Gary Oldman was shouting orders in some anonymous government HQ, it was pretty action packed and had some decent atmosphere. Safe to say I was on board. 

As the film progressed from the hopeful opening, the problems began to appear. Literally, like 10 minutes in. The clichés started rolling out in full force and the plot falls into "straight to DVD" B-Movie obscurity. You've even got the evil, foreign mastermind hacker in an abandoned building, why do these evil genius hackers never hack in the comfort of some nice surroundings? Maybe with a sofa and a nice view? 

The sci-fi concept of this film was actually quite interesting, take someone else's memories and transfer them into someone else. Throw a CIA agent and a dangerous criminal into that mix and I'm sold. However, the way the concept is executed in the film is nothing short of a mess. For such a promising idea they manage to dilute it down, extenuate it to the point that it becomes boring and toss it carelessly in with a convoluted plot. Nothing is explained and there are so many plot holes that you end up just giving up. 

The believability factor in any sci-fi film is extremely important, it must be believable within the world that the story takes place for us to buy into the advanced ideas and none of what happens in 'Criminal' is believable.

The cast of the film are totally wasted. You have the likes of Kevin Costner in the lead role acting alongside Gary Oldman and Tommy Lee Jones, this should have been a fun and exciting 90's throwback action flick but, instead, they are reduced to cheap dialogue and hammy performances. 

Tommy Lee Jones looks as if he couldn't be bothered but showed up for the free food and the cheque...

Gary Oldman shouts his way through the film in a blind rage and Ryan Reynolds is chucked away in the first couple of scenes. 

Kevin Costner tries out a pretty strange criminal character that punches his way through innocent civilians to get to whatever giant plot hole is conjured up for the finale. He does some very despicable things to some pretty ordinary people which makes you question every plot point that follows it. Should we really be rooting for such a horrendous character in the end?

As it all begins to draw to a close, the cheesiness becomes stronger and stronger. It's like a cheesy 90's action film without the fun. It's over the top and not in a good way. It runs to the end like a TV movie and, if you weren't in the cinema, you'd have probably changed the channel long before then.

The violence in the film is gratuitous, it's violent for the sake of being violent and there's no call for it. I'm all up for a violent romp in the right context but in this film it's just bizarre. There are some scenes that are so violent that you begin to laugh because it's so ridiculous. It's like watching 'Taken' but instead of Liam Neeson breaking the necks of criminals, he's breaking the necks of innocent people. It's not fun anymore it just becomes a little uncomfortable.

Coming in at just shy of a two hour run time, for a film like this, that’s verging on the ridiculous. It seems to lumber from one convoluted plot point to the next with clunky dialogue and disposable scenes. It’s a sloppy plot that hangs together by a thread. 

Overall, 'Criminal' is a shoddy piece of filmmaking that wastes its fantastic cast.

Only thing criminal about this film is the fact that it robs you of nearly two hours of your life...