Rating of
2.5/4
Criminal Minds Can't Quite Mesh
Chris Kavan - wrote on 07/24/16
Criminal has all the elements to make a superb action/crime/thriller with a pretty impressive cast, a interesting story and a director who is no stranger to making the dark characters shine (with the 2012 film The Iceman). Despite having all the elements, Criminal never quite comes together as it should.
We open with agent Bill Pope (Ryan Reynolds in an extended and surprise cameo essentially) who has a bag of cash and is being pursued by both the CIA (led by a barking and scene-chewing Gary Oldman) and a more nefarious organization led by Xavier Heimdahl (Jordi Mollà) and his dangerous lap dog Elsa Mueller (Antje Traue). It seems Pope has knowledge of a talented hacker Jan "The Dutchman" Stroop (Michael Pitt) who has revealed he has managed to figure out how to break into the U.S. military and essentially has control over any system. Pope was ready to make a deal with "The Dutchman" before being discovered.
In the end, Pope winds up tortured and left for dead - but he kept his knowledge. Oldman tracks down Dr. Franks (Tommy Lee Jones) who has been working for 15 years on being able to transfer the memories of dead mind into a living body. Of course, he has been working on mice, but the CIA needs Pope's knowledge and thus moves forward human trials. Lucky for them, Franks has a subject in mind but he's not exactly the ideal candidate. Jericho Stewart (Keven Costner) is a career criminal with zero empathy and a hair trigger. It seems he is a 1 in 10 million person with a rare frontal-lobe syndrome - which means he is open to receiving another mind. Of course, no one knows if any of this will succeed at all - and, at first, it appears nothing has happened but, slowly, Pope's memories, abilities and demeanor all begin to affect Jericho, who reaches out to his wife (Gal Gadot) and daughter (Lara Decaro) while trying to ultimately complete his mission.
When Criminal works, it works well. The action is brutal and can come at anytime. Costner plays Jericho like a champ - he doesn't care if he's stabbing his way to escape or butting in line and punching people who annoy him. Jericho is a hoot, even if he's pretty indiscriminate in his violence and Costner really does a great job with the role. Unfortunately, while Costner excels, most of the rest of the cast can't rise to the occasion. Oldman yells a lot, Jones is dour, Gadot shows none of her spark and I almost forgot Alice Eve was even around. It's too bad all that talent is a bit wasted here but that's the way it goes.
I also have to say that while the plot starts off strong, with some interesting concepts, it never really gets too deep into the whole memory replacement idea. Costner gets flashes, he starts acting like a better guy (but not too good) and tries to connect with his family - but it just feels strange. Costner and Gadot don't make a compelling pairing. The villain is your standard megalomaniac with his own agenda and you don't get much of a sense beyond that.
In the end, Criminal is still a solid choice for an action/crime movie that rises above the norm, but the actors and plot just don't rise as high as they could have.
