Rating of
1.5/4
Short Sentence
Unknown - wrote on 05/09/16
'Criminal' has a neat action-movie premise and a staked cast of actors. That's most of the positives right off the bat. I never thought this movie could've been great, or even memorable, but the pieces were in place for something (sort of) fresh to be found within the routine nature of this concoction. The initial conceit of implanting a dead persons's memories into a living person's brain is interesting, and I like how it explains the process in "movie logic". They make it seem believable enough in the confines of the story. The problem is that the story lacks any furthering of the central idea. Oh, and the plot is really dumb. Our main character is a murderer with zero empathy at the start of the film, but grows to show some humanity over time after receiving these new memories. Costner manages the uneasy feat of actually making this guy's hokey arc worth a little engagement. He conveys an actual reformation of personality. I'm impressed. Everyone else in the movie could be considered sleepwalking towards a paycheck. A laughable villain looms over the needlessly complicated plot points until we reach a finale of stupid connivence working in the hero's favor. Despite the overall ineptitude, I still give points to Costner's willing attempts and the not-so-bad action scenes.
