Prime Time: Kandahar (2023)

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

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The Baytown Outlaws (2012)

I went into The Baytown Outlaws expecting to enjoy it, but I was being hopeful. I didn't really know much about the plot and I certainly had no idea who the main actors were. Eva Longoria and Billy Bob Thornton were the main names being used to market the movie, but I knew that they weren't in it for all that long. Thankfully, Clayne Crawford, Daniel Cudmore and Travis Fimmel in the lead roles are pretty perfect and they help make this into one hell of an enjoyable experience.

The three men I just mentioned play the Oodie brothers, gun-toting lads who are more than happy to kill any criminals that are working in their area. They get the satisfaction of being good citizens and also pleasing the local law enforcement (well, pleasing Andre Braugher's character anyway). When they are approached by the fine-looking Celeste (Eva Longoria) with a job offer that will see them a fair bit richer for getting her godson, Rob (Thomas Brodie-Sangster), back to her. It seems like an easy job, but they have to get Rob away from the dastardly Carlod (Billy Bob Thornton) and then avoid retribution from the people who will come after them, including some dangerous women played by Zoe Bell and the gorgeous Serinda Swan, among others.

Directed by Barry Battles (who also co-wrote the movie with Griffin Hood), The Baytown Outlaws is a near-perfect slice of entertainment for fans of this particular style. But what particular style is it? Well, that's the beauty of it. You get a choice. If you want rednecks arguing with each other then you can enjoy the many moments in which the Oodie brothers get on each other's nerves (though Lincoln, played by Daniel Cudmore is mute unless talking through a speech synthesising device, but leader Brick, played by Clayne Crawford, and McQueen, played by Travis Fimmel, more than make up for his relative silence). If you want something that's more violent and confrontational then don't worry because there sure are plenty of moments that will make the grade for you there. Want something rough and rugged that also has real heart? It's got that. The movie covers all bases, really, and expertly blends thrills with comedy and some real emotion.

This is thanks in no small part to the script and direction, of course, but everything is also given a major boost by the top-notch cast. The actors playing the Oodie brothers are absolutely superb. They carry the movie effortlessly and collectively make for the best anti-hero(es) that I have seen on-screen in some time. Billy Bob Thornton has some fun, Eva Longoria does well enough and did I mention the gorgeous Serinda Swan (who I last saw in the godawful Creature)? In fact, the cast is a veritable who's who of people that you will know from other movies even if the name escapes you. Andre Braugher is best known to many people for his role in The Mist. Michael Rapaport, who has a small, but memorable, role has been in plenty, from True Romance to Deep Blue Sea. Zoe Bell, who put in many years as a hard-working stunt-woman, is perhaps best known to audiences nowadays for her role in Death Proof and even Thomas Brodie-Sangster may make people scratch their heads while they try to figure out what else he has been in - he's been in plenty, but I remembered him most clearly from Love Actually (and it's fun to see that he's grown up, but his face just hasn't changed a bit). Paul Wesley, who plays a non-local officer named Reese out to upset the status quo, was the only face I didn't recognise from other movies, but he has an extensive filmography full of stuff that just hasn't passed before my eyes yet.

Overall, I can't think of any other 2012 release that has the mix of great characters, fierce violence, hot and dangerous biker chicks, corrupt police officers and even a cracking soundtrack accompanying everything. The fact that it also has one of the best title sequences I've seen in a long time is just the icing on the cake. Rent it, see it, consider buying it.

8/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Baytown-Outlaws-Blu-ray-Paul-Wesley/dp/B0090JBOZW/ref=sr_1_2?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1361165344&sr=1-2