3 DAYS TO KILL

2013 / Director. McG
Review by Glenn Cochrane.

I've always had trouble watching films directed by McG. I mean honestly... Mc-fucking-G. What kind of egotistical, wanky personality must someone have to use a name like that professionally. He's not a rapper. Nor is he a DJ... he's a damn director and the absurdity of it kind of puts me off his films... not to mention the fact that his films have never really been all that good. On the flip side I generally LOVE most of the movies that Luc Besson writes and/or produces. Films like THE TRANSPORTER, FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE and DANNY THE DOG are just some of the examples that give him an auteur status. 3 DAYS TO KILL is a strange cocktail of action and drama that delivers on one but not the other. Kevin Costner plays a former CIA assassin who is dying and has only months to live. He returns to France to be with his ex-wife and reconnect with his daughter. While doing so he is sucked back into the job and given an assignment to kill an elusive arms trafficker. There are a lot of things that work well in this movie and Kevin Costner contributes to it's pros. He's definitely a peculiar choice to lead this film but he works the material well. His presence is assured and confident and he balances the comic material nicely... however there is too much comic relief in this one for my liking. The action sequences, true to Besson form, are fantastic. They're equally gritty and glitzy and keep the overall film from being a dud. The soundtrack is also good with a handful of modern pop/rock songs supporting the action. Where it falters is in the drama department. The father-daughter-wife relationships are forced and never really resonate and a weird dramatic subplot involving a family of squatters is distracting. If 3 DAYS TO KILL had been 20 minutes shorter, more focused and less comical then it would have been an absolute belter but as it stands, it's an adequate action flick that passes the time. 

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