Criminal: Un espion dans la tête

Pulp Sci-Fi Thriller that Blows Over its High-Concepts, like Memory Transfer, with Penny-a-Word Hastiness. But this Underrated Entertainment is just that, Entertaining.

Forget the Egg-Head Cranks, Kick-Back and have Fun with this Star-Studded Romp that is Highly Emotional, Endearing, Violent, and an Anti-Hero worth Rooting for.

Kevin Costner is Involving, Gary Oldman almost Destroys any Balance of Good Sense and Cleverness in His First Scene confronting Costner's "Jericho", but manages to Recover for some Redemption by the Feel-Good Ending.

This is a Familiar Story but Twisty Enough to make it Fresh. Tommy Lee Jones Walks through His Minor Part, but the rest of the Cast comes through working with the "Comic-Book" Script. Lara Decaro is the Heart of the Movie as a Little Girl who Warms up the Films Cold Premise.

Overall, Criminally Underrated Mainstream Movie that makes up for its Shallowness and Clichés with a Rapid Pace, Good Thrill Kills, and Costner's Commitment to the Role. This is one of those Big-Name Attractions that Critics Love to Hate for not being Intelligent and Opting for a By-the-Numbers Scenario.

These Prudes have Forgotten that Movies at their Least can be Forgiven a lot of Things if it Simply Entertains. This Fun Film does just that and maybe a bit More.

I often feel people are far to critical of some movies, this would fall into that category. Solid action thriller, good cast, good action and a few comical lines. Ignore the low ratings!

"You hurt me…I hurt you worse." Jericho (Kevin Costner)

Costner is the titular bad guy, who is implanted with the memory of deceased CIA operative, Bill Pope (Ryan Gosling—don't expect to see much of him as he dies early), and spends the better part of Criminal dealing with emotions new to him. It's a film rife with clichés but engaging largely because Costner is believable as a monster turned humanist. And the supporting cast is first-rate.

While this thriller is rife with electronics ( the bad guy has hacked into the USA's military computer system), the humanism is what strikes me as satisfying: not just Jericho's assuming Pope's affections but also Gary Oldman's CIA officer, Quaker Wells, sliding into a rage and Jordi Malla's head terrorist, Xavier, just being cool. I also must acknowledge that the growing affection between Jericho and Pope's widow, Jill (Gal Gadot), is believable if not just as improbable as their planting her deceased husband's thoughts and memories in Jericho.

In thrillers like Criminal, we've seen before the action sequences with vulnerable helicopters, racing cop cars, and ominous computer screens. What we haven't seen much of is a bad-boy hero who captures our sympathy immediately so that we care what happens to him regardless of the mayhem he causes in his journey. Costner has the stature and mien to carry this ambiguous hero right into our hearts.

"You don't remember me but I remember you," says young daughter, Emma Pope (Lara Decaro). Out of the mouths of babes come wisdom and the hope of love for a soulless murderer whose life is transformed by modern technology. Who would have thought technology could grant humanity? Besides, it's fun.

I despise movies where the premise is beyond credible. So after reading the reviews I decided I did not want to see another Face Off type transplant story. But wow, was I ever wrong. What I was missing is one of the best characters ever created by an actor and that was Kevin Costner's doing. He develops a totally believable and absolutely impeccable portrait of a sick psychopath who is greatly affected by an unapproved medical procedure. What is great is that he is not politically correct, weak, or conflicted. It makes him incredibly interesting in the age of weak males pandering to everyone. He gets to glimpse a normal life through the eyes of a strong man who is also moral which is the Ryan Reynolds character. He also gets to feel the love of a daughter and beautiful wife which he had never known before. All of the actors are great but Costner raised my opinion of his acting ability by a mile. The story and production is also excellent with an ending that is quite satisfying.

Criminal has been slated in most reviews I've read, so I went into this film expecting very little from it. However, the film is actually considerably better than these reviews suggest and has some clever ideas running through it. It's all about the memories of Bill Pope, played by Ryan Reynolds, being transferred into Jericho Stewart, played by Kevin Costner. Both actors do well with what they are given, and Costner is particularly impressive when he has to deal with his own thoughts and Pope's as well. This memory transplant is done so a task can be completed, and you'll understand why if you watch the film. The start of the film is very intense and really pulls in your interest, with a selection of plots being introduced and I felt they all connected quite nicely at the end. The script is a bit lacklustre and uses swearing for effect rather than proper character development, although this isn't totally lacking, as Stewart tries to connect with Pope's family, which develops the story and characters quite nicely.

The action sequences provide nothing new or inventive to the genre, but they are well done and they always feel like a payoff for decent storytelling. The primary issue I had with Criminal is the middle section, which becomes very lacklustre and slow, and to be honest is a bit boring. I know most films slow down at some stage, but this one lost my interest a bit, which is never a good sign. We get to see a lot of Gel Gadot here, and she plays a good part and acts well alongside Costner. However the film picks up again with a pretty good final third, although again, nothing new is shown and the action is slightly generic. The film ends well, and the clever principles of this film are not lost through the seen it all before action scenes.

So overall, Criminal is film with clever ideas but has generic action sequences which does not merit these ideas, despite the action being entertaining. The acting is good, but the script is lacklustre and the middle section is slow. Criminal is worth a watch, but it won't win any awards despite it being a decent crack at the action film genre.