Although I sometimes pick movies with absolutely no idea of what I am about to watch, it is nearly impossible to watch as many movies as I do without some awareness of the content of them (whether it is due to their genre categorization, the main star name, or even just the thumbnail/poster, not to mention the various ads and trailers). So I don’t go into a recent Gerard Butler movie expecting a masterpiece. I did hope that Kandahar would be better than this though.
Butler plays Tom Harris, a CIA operative working undercover in Afghanistan. He is due to head home after another successful mission, allowing him to spend some quality time with his daughter and move his stuff out of the home he used to share with his due-to-be-ex-wife, when he is asked to take part in one more mission, and it is one with a huge payday. Unfortunately, Harris has his cover blown, which leads to a number of people desperate to capture him as he tries to get to an extraction point in Kandahar with his translator, Mohammad (Navid Negahban).
Let’s get to the point here. The biggest problem with Kandahar isn’t the cast, although they’re not doing their best work. Director Ric Roman Waugh is also not dire, but not helping as much as he could. The biggest problem lies with the confused script by Mitchell LaFortune, and it’s no surprise to see that this is his first feature. Where Kandahar could have been so many things, depending on the focus on action or drama, it ends up trying to be a bit of something for everyone. That wouldn’t be so bad if LaFortune isn’t also distracted by the idea of showing how people aren’t always easily placed into the category of hero or villain, with everyone given a chance to show how the circumstances dictate their thinking and actions. What that means is that we get a film with a runtime padded out by many scenes that feel completely unnecessary, and sometimes laughably bemusing.
Butler is showing his years nowadays, age catches up to us all in the end, but he still Carrie’s himself with the confidence of someone happy to face overwhelming odds with his strength, intelligence, and skillset. Negahban is perfectly fine, and at least benefits from one of the many coincidences folded into the script, and our two leads are easier to root for throughout simply due to them being played by Butler and Negahban. Elsewhere, Travis Fimmel is the employer/ally, and both Bahador Foladi and Ali Fazal play two main characters aggressively pursuing our heroes (although the latter is given a motorbike that is superfast for some scenes and then seems to be capped at a top speed of 5mph when trying to follow the desert-traversing truck commandeered by our leads).
Some may prefer the fact that this is an action film trying to explore ideas beyond the boundaries of most standard action films, but I would have much preferred this to get the basics right. None of the geography, timing, or choreography feels good enough, and there isn’t enough breathing space for the half-assed ideas lumped in alongside the poor action moments.
Ultimately pleasing nobody, apart from maybe the biggest Gerard Butler fans. Even they might find this one much easier to ignore than some of his other vehicles.
3/10
If you have enjoyed this, or any other, review on the blog then do
consider the following ways to show your appreciation. A
subscription/follow costs nothing.
It also costs nothing to like/subscribe to the YouTube channel attached to the podcast I am part of - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCErkxBO0xds5qd_rhjFgDmA
Or you may have a couple of quid to throw at me, in Ko-fi form - https://ko-fi.com/kevinmatthews
Or Amazon is nice at this time of year - https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/Y1ZUCB13HLJD?ref_=wl_share
No comments:
Post a Comment