I had planned on going to see Jungle Book, but the theater was overcrowded so I went to see Criminal instead. I was interested in seeing this film, but I was definitely uncertain if it would be any good. I like a lot of the actors in this film and ultimately I found it enjoyable. I believe Criminal earns the Decent Watch rating.
Criminal Summary
Bill Pope (Ryan Reynolds) was a CIA operative who was killed in the line of duty. The CIA uses an experimental procedure to implant the memories and skills of Pope into Jericho Stewart (Kevin Costner), a death-row inmate, in hopes that they can recover vital information.
Costner’s performance is excellent. I really loved his character and his portrayal of the memories slowly taking hold. His interactions are often comical and crazy. He does seem a bit extreme at times, but it feels like the character who suffered a head injury as a child and his frontal lobe didn’t develope leaving him basically a sociopath. I’m not sure if any of that science adds up, but it creates a fairly compelling on screen character.
Gal Gadot’s performance was fine, but her character makes some choices that seem unlikely. Ryan Reynolds, Michael Pitt, Jordi Molia, and Tommy Lee Jones all do satisfactory as well. Gary Oldman seemed a bit over the top, I mean I get that the situation is critical, but does yelling at everyone solve the problem. He yells at everyone and shows no regard for individual’s rights and clearly plays the utilitarian role, but he seemed to just over do it. On the same note, Lara Decaro does a great job, but doesn’t seem like a little girl who just lost her father. I think that could have been the writing, but she latches on to Jericho so quickly it’s unsettling.
Jericho is a character that I would actually continue watching. If he were to have another movie I would probably watch it as he was interesting. He made me laugh at parts that I probably shouldn’t have laughed because his character was so crazy. There is a scene at a coffee shop where he discovers he can now speak French, which he calls Spanish, and then proceeds to get into a fight with a guy.
Ariel Vromen did a solid job directing. I didn’t notice anything completely amazing, but I also didn’t notice any glaring errors. Douglas Cook and David Weisberg did a decent of telling this sci-fi style action drama and did an excellent job writing the character of Jericho.
I didn’t love this film, but I really enjoyed Kevin Costner’s performance and his character Jericho. He was definitely the best part of the film. There was some cool action moments and if you like that then you may really enjoy this film.
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