Milla Jovovich stars as a security expert working for the American Embassy in London. Right away, she notices a lot of suspicious scientists have been coming into the country under her watch. However, no red flags have been raised. She then goes to her superiors who curtly dismiss her. When she survives a bombing meant to silence her, Milla winds up being the prime suspect. She then goes on the run and must clear her name before the baddies catch up to her.
Director James McTeigue usually brings a sense of style to his films, as anyone who’s seen V for Vendetta or Ninja Assassin can attest. Sadly, Survivor is a thoroughly bland and generic thriller. Despite his presence behind the camera and the participation of Milla as the heroine and Pierce Brosnan (who looks bored) as the villainous bombmaker/master of disguise, it’s pretty much a dud from the first frame.
It’s not bad enough that the plot is overly formulaic, but a lot of the movie just looks cheap. Oftentimes, it feels like something your grandma would watch on Ion TV. To make matters worse, the supposedly sad scene where Milla mourns the loss of her friends is unintentionally hilarious. As she sits at her desk, she solemnly looks at their photo while stock footage of 9/11 is superimposed over it to hammer home the fact they died. It’s totally amateurish.
At least the flick has a good supporting cast. Robert Forster, Dylan McDermott, Angela Bassett, and Roger Rees all appear, but they seem to be on autopilot. Even the usually fetching Milla doesn’t seem to want to be there, and Brosnan is badly miscast as the bad guy. The movie’s shorthand for “characterization” is sometimes amusing though. For example, we know Milla doesn’t play by the rules because she rides a motorcycle to work. Unfortunately, that’s about as deep as the screenplay gets.
I thought this was pretty good and did not think Brosnan was "miscast" at all.
ReplyDelete