The Quick and Dirties: 3 Days to Kill, Non-Stop, Brick Mansions

I like 'em quick. I like 'em dirty. And this time, they're full of action. Here is another edition of The Quick and Dirties...

3 Days to Kill

(2014)

Ethan Renner (Kevin Costner) is a top-notch hit man who is ready to retire and reconnect with the family he alienated due to his work. He also happens to be so ill that he will die in three days. Luckily, Vivi Delay (Amber Heard) has an experimental drug that just might save his life. To get it, of course, he will have to do one more job for her. What ensues is Renner kicking all sorts of tail until he gets close to the target. At this point he always seems to get sick and pass out. Seriously. Between these times, he tries to bond with his teenage daughter and reignite the flames with his wife. The action scenes are mostly solid as Costner still handles himself well. the problem is the times and manner in which his sickness knocks him out are too silly. The familial relationship stuff is nothing we haven't seen a thousand times. It all adds up to a big ball of "meh."

Non-Stop

(2014)

Liam Neeson plays Liam Neeson playing a U.S. Air Marshal who happens to hate flying and is a functioning alcoholic. Soon after takeoff, he receives an ominous and mysterious text message informing him that someone aboard the plane will be killed if the sender, presumably, doesn't have $150 million wired to a specific bank account in the next twenty minutes. Our hero putting his particular set of skills to work ensues. This time, he's not always so effective. His inefficiency is the one aspect that keeps the film somewhat entertaining. It's used to build suspense which it sorta does. It's not that effective because hey, it's Neeson. It's like watching his character from the Taken movies on a bad day. Unfortunately, everyone around him fits neatly into whatever type is needed to drive the paint-by-numbers plot. None of them intrigues us in the least. Therefore, we're never sufficiently pulled into the story. Commendably, the story-telling is patient, not rushing from one action scene to the next. However, the same thing happens in each interval and it's happening to people who fail to make us care. Worse than any of that, our bad guy feels cowardly rather than menacing. These things combine to make that patient story-telling turn into a movie that drags. In the end it's passable, thanks to an interesting turn by Neeson, but easily forgettable.

Brick Mansions

(2014)

In one of his last roles, Paul Walker stars as a renegade cop who gets paired with ex-con Lino (David Belle), a French parkour/fighting expert, to take down Tremaine Alexander (RZA), a ruthless crime lord. Our bad guy runs a housing project known as...all together now...Brick Mansions. I probably shouldn't say this, but the action comes fast and furious. Yeah, I know, but I couldn't resist. And the story gets progressively worse as it goes on. In an interesting twist, if you pick up on it, the movie's political leanings appear to be the opposite of most of similar ilk. Over the last four decades, big dumb action flicks are overwhelmingly from a conservative viewpoint. More than you can count could double as right-wing propaganda. This one is decidedly liberal and fairly clear about it. I'm certainly a liberal-minded individual, but it was funny to see how blatant this is. Ideals aside, this still isn't a good movie. On the other hand, it's so high-octane and slathered in ridiculosity that I couldn't take my eyes off it. Yup, it's so bad it's awesome!