Canary Black

This was a lot more fun than I expected. One might think one saw this same plot many times before. A highly trained woman CIA agent, whose husband has no idea what she does. Put into a blackmail situation where she is tasked to steal a highly secret and potentially explosive file if exposed. And she is given a short time to do that, and the person who is supposed to have the file on him doesn't. Of course the blackmailers won't take no for an answer. And the CIA considers that she has gone rogue. But the movie is fun to watch, and there are enough twists and turns to make things enjoyable, and builds to a nicely scripted climax.

We've seen this before. A very talented spy or thief or retired hitman is compelled to do something really really bad... perhaps even apocalyptic... to save a loved one from harm. Meanwhile said action star can't tell anybody and can't trust anybody... and everybody simply thinks the action star has gone "rogue".

If you've seen enough of these films, your antenna goes up almost immediately when you see the tortured loved one utter a dire plea "Honey.., just do what they say!" And therein lies the rub. For as talented and clever a spy as Kate Beckinsale, why couldn't she put 2 and 2 together like the rest of us.

Beckinsake, at age 51, is not quite as spry as her Underworld days or even her Total Recall stint - and even a platinum blonde wig doesn't do justice for her stunt double.

That said, highly evocative of The Blacklist and Alias in plot points and premises, the action is watchably entertaining in a streaming movie kind of way yet distinctly short of theatrical release quality.

The movie, as entertaining as it was for a Friday night on the couch, perhaps takes itself too seriously in pitching itself for a sequel. In the end, it felt like a pilot looking for a network pick up.

After an assignment in Tokyo, the dangerous CIA assassin Avery "Ave" Graves (Kate Beckinsale) returns home in Croatia to celebrate her marriage anniversary with her beloved husband David Brooks (Rupert Friend). Ave is a lonely woman that was raised to be a CIA operative since she was a teenager by her chief and friend Jarvis Hedlund (Ray Stevenson), the only person she trusts besides David. Out of the blue, David is kidnapped, and the kidnaper orders Ave to retrieve the Canary Black file that is hidden in the tooth of a CIA prisoner. She lures Agent Maxfield (Jaz Hutchins), who is responsible for the prisoner, but she does not find any file in the tooth. Now she is chased by the CIA that believe she is a traitor and has the Black Canary file; by the criminals who abducted David, since they also believe she has the file; and the Croatia Secret Service that has team up with the CIA to capture her. Meanwhile the clock is ticking, and David's life is in serious danger, and Ave needs to retrieve the Black Canary to save him.

"Canary Black" (2024) is one of those action movies where the viewer cannot think, such the number of flaws and holes in the screenplay. Avery Graves does not tell her friend and boss Jarvis Hedlund that her husband was kidnapped. After the messy situation she has created, she calls him, and he betrays her. When she finds the hideout of the criminals, he goes alone, with no backup from the CIA. She never shows the photography of David Brooks to the CIA personnel to prove he was kidnapped. David is shot in the stomach but fights, runs and jumps as if it was nothing. The consequences of the blackout in Singapore are never shown. Would it be so difficult to track down the bank account of the criminals since they involved all the countries in the world? The usual exaggeration is awful in this situation. The lovely Kate Beckinsale has a weird voice and accent as if she had been dubbed, and her thin lips with botox are not beautiful. The use of the unoriginal idea of "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" (2005) does not work well in this movie. Unfortunately, this is the last movie of Ray Stevenson, who mysteriously died in Italy. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Canário Negro" ("Canary Black")

Canary Black is an action drama directed by Pierre Morel, director of Taken and Peppermint.

CIA agent Avery Graves (Kate Beckinsale) is blackmailed by terrorists when they kidnap her husband and threaten to kill him if she doesn't do what they ask of her. Avery has to steal the digital program Canary Black, but has to turn against her own agency to do so. This puts her in direct conflict with the terrorists and her own and other secret agent agencies.

After Taken, Pierre Morel has not had such success with action films. The script of a novice writer doesn't really help either, especially when the story comes across as a lesser mix between Taken and Peppermint, or other similar action films.

The action scenes are also too lively, with too much editing between the scenes or too zoomed in on the screen. As a result, they remain difficult to follow, or they seem unbelievable. As a result, there is little tension or entertainment left. Because of all these messy aspects, the cast members also get few opportunities to really come across well or believably.

I love Kate beckensale movies since underworld but I do not know why she sounds so different in this movie. Was she trying an accent, is she a smoker or sick during production? It did not match the performance and there are scenes where you could tell they dubbed in lines after the filming.

The plot is nonsense and they tried to add too many twists at the end. I expected more from the director having been behind Peppermint and Taken which I loved.

I wanted to like it but there were too many issues I couldn't look past.

It was shot well for an action movie with a lot of cuts. I get she is older and probably can't do the John wick one shots so I will give it a pass.

If you want a movie to just enjoy/kill time with them give it a watch. Try not to let the little things bother you and turn your brain off and maybe you can enjoy it more than me.

A better version of this movie I recommend is The Protoge with Maggie Q. It does this female spy/hitman theme better with a better cast.

Also it was sad this was Ray Stevenson's last role I think. I enjoyed watching him again so there is that.