By Jeremy Moore
Photo courtesy Summit Entertainment
Despite having such a solid cast, Criminal is not one of the must-see movies of 2016.
Kevin Costner, Ryan Reynolds, Tommy Lee Jones and all of the main characters had pretty good performances as usual, but their performances weren’t enough to overshadow the film’s script.
In a last-resort attempt to prevent an evil plan from taking place, a dead CIA agent’s (Reynolds) memories and skills are transferred into a volatile and emotionless prison inmate (Costner). He becomes the CIA’s best chance to finish the agent’s mission.
The mind of a CIA agent and family man colliding with the mind of a psychotic killer is a good idea, but this idea didn’t translate into a good movie. The film’s story ended up being too long and mixed with odd events.
For most of the film, Jericho Stewart (the prisoner) runs around town committing senseless crimes. Basically, he gets to live out every killer’s dream. And to add insult to injury, he now has the skills of a top CIA agent. After being locked up for many years, Stewart finally gets to go on an extreme crime spree.
Watching a man do things such as murder people and hijack their cars, steal sandwiches and punch people out in a coffee shop is not worth an $8 movie ticket. Instead of being released in theaters, this movie seems like a perfect fit for release on Netflix or Redbox. It’s baffling to see that a movie like this ended up with the cast members that it did.
Having such a great cast gave this film potential to be really good, but it failed to deliver.
