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What this movie does to Kevin Costner’s career is criminal
D+Ryan Reynolds‘ career is on a roll now, but he needs to steer clear of movies in which one man’s memory is transplanted into another man’s body. It didn’t work out too well in Self/Less, and the results are even worse, both for Reynolds and the audience, in Criminal.
Actually, Reynolds is only on hand for the first 10 minutes of Criminal before his character, CIA agent Bill Pope, is tortured and killed by an international terrorist (Jordi Molla) trying to find the location of a potential doomsday device. In order to get the information Pope had and find the device before the terrorist does, Pope’s boss, Quaker Wells (Gary Oldman), has a scientist, Dr. Franks (Tommy Lee Jones) perform an experimental operation transferring Pope’s brain cells into the body of convicted murderer Jericho Stewart (Kevin Costner). Before he reveals what Pope knew, however, Stewart escapes custody, killing several people, and both the CIA and the terrorists are after him.
The plot of Criminal is completely preposterous, but it’s the type of movie that might be over-the-top fun in the right hands. Unfortunately, director Ariel Vromen plays it far too straight. From the moment the audience realizes that Pope left behind a wife (Gal Gadot) and adorable moppet daughter (Lara Decaro), there’s no doubt where Stewart is headed. Of course, Pope’s implanted memories eventually allow Stewart for the first time in his life to feel emotions for Pope’s loved ones. Before that, however, Costner is fun to watch for a while as he casually and brutally beats up anyone who literally gets in his way. The fun quickly wears off as the nearly non-stop violence is excessively brutal and overdone. Unfortunately, there’s little else besides Costner’s performance to recommend in Criminal. Gary Oldman bellows and blusters through every scene while Tommy Lee Jones compensates by mumbling his lines. The plot is needlessly convoluted. and almost every character in Criminal is, well, criminally stupid, seemingly for the sole purpose of allowing dozens of stunt persons to meet sometimes grisly demises. And, while the movie has plenty of set pieces, Vromen’s handling of them is rather pedestrian. Ironically, Nicolas Cage turned down Costner’s role in this movie; that one fact should tell you all you need to know about whether to see Criminal.
Continue reading on Criminal: Mini-review
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