Last updated on February 15, 2015
3 Days to Kill was, truly, nothing at all like I expected. I assumed that, with McG directing and Luc Besson helming the writing duties, we might end up with something similar to a Liam Neeson movie. Instead, you end up with a bizarre hybrid between intense Hollywood spy-action thriller segments and a drama about a man with cancer desperately hoping to reconnect with his long-estranged family (due to, of course, career choices). In a way, it brilliantly subverts tropes of both genres by never letting the movie’s pacing fully commit to either side, allowing both the drama and the action to gestate naturally (and eventually coalesce together towards the climax). Still, I would not call this a film for just about anyone, since it’s entirely predictable but also throws you off balance with where it wants to go.
In a sentence, then, 3 Days to Kill does not allow for easy summaries. At the same time, though, I would place it firmly in the “feel-good” set. Nothing you see here will surprise you in terms of plot progression. Rather, the film seems crafted to play to Kevin Costner’s strengths as an actor. Going off on a tangent here, I don’t like Kevin Costner all that much. He strikes me as rather emotionless for a supposed brilliant thespian, and that came to a head in 1994’s Wyatt Earp; just compare that travesty of a boring, slowly paced biography with Tombstone, which takes the exact same tale into visual mediums with a bang. He presents himself less as a charismatic playboy and more the Everyman – hence, why he ended up dominating the early 1990s.
I think that’s why I enjoyed 3 Days to Kill so much! Yeah, Kevin Costner does play a CIA agent with skills far beyond any ordinary human being. Yes, he performs horrifically violent acts with nearly zero consequence and the same ruthless efficiency as Liam Neeson in Taken (there’s one really creative kidnapping involving a bus, and I hate to really spoil it). I was surprised to find little to no CGI in the entire film; having a real car chase actually helps to invest me, because my brain does not constantly question why I am watching an incredibly expensive cartoon unfold and explode before my eyes. The action, in a word, works in a satisfying way, but I would not call it the highlight.
The real interesting part comes where the exciting interacts with the mundane, and Costner always excelled at that. How does a CIA with brain cancer even function? What about other real-life or cover related obligations intruding upon your missions? What do you do after being away five years on CIA missions and squatters end up living in your apartment (I am guessing this does not happen frequently in the United States, but maybe in France? Hard to say.) Kevin Costner, even at the age of 60+, still plays the Everyman role with the same subtle charm and nuances as he always does, and he eventually becomes convincing and interesting. I don’t understand how this film hoodwinked me into investing into it, or caring about anything happening, but by golly I got myself interested right quick,
3 Days to Kill subverts the genre, but the whiplash becomes apparent pretty quickly. The two elements do always mix in the best ways. Just as one example, Amber Heard appears repeatedly as a CIA agent telling our protagonist what to do. If he performs one last mission, the CIA will give him an experimental drug that (they hint) will cure him. She merely prods us along every once and a while in some weird, exotic, and Parisian locales, playing the part of an alluring spy woman. It’s an unfortunately one note role merely designed to force the plot back on track, as it frequently gets sidetracked by paternal affairs early and often. Yes, her appearance often spices up the film from a pacing standpoint
After a while, though, I grew to accept the weird subversive nature of the whole project. Clearly, Costner wants to spend time with family, not killing a bunch of dudes he could care less about. When you see Miss Heard appear, that is exactly the contrast they wanted to show – old guard vs. new guard, grizzled veteran vs. new agent. Everybody has different priorities as they grow older, and older people often feel a need to settle their regrets. There’s a special desire to reconcile with long lost family and friends when a Sword of Damocles like cancer hangs over your head: every moment becomes pressure. Without all that baggage, you can freely travel around the world to the most beautiful places and kill stuff indiscriminately without knowing why. Wisdom requires we actually question, or know, why we do things.
With all that said, 3 Days to Kill loves itself some tropes, and if the very thought of happy endings, quips, and obvious plot developments make your eyes roll, just don’t bother. I never felt any real tension at all – more like confusion. For a thriller, that’s kind of a problem! If you like seeing old things reconfigured into a hopelessly strange, jarring experience, though, I can recommend this awfully weird thing!
