Canary Black

With a decent cast of familiar faces, passable action sequences, and some strange editing choices, this film delivers a safe/predictable take on the spy-action genre. It's a by-the-numbers experience that doesn't raise any eyebrows and is ultimately forgettable. It has a somewhat interesting change to the expected premise that doesn't really last long or pay off. Soon, we're back to a familiar "doomsday device" and world-ending MacGuffin plot that must be kept from falling into the wrong hands. An added attempt at a romance subplot that falls flat end up feeling underdeveloped and unnecessary. Lastly, the final 20 minutes are unexciting and predictable filler, dragging the movie to a close without much fanfare.

I wasn't expecting much.. but it still managed to be somewhat disappointing.

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.

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")

My wife and I watch movies to be entertained. When this one finished I asked, "Were you entertained?" She replied, "Yes, I stayed awake the whole time." Which doesn't always happen on her comfortable couch.

There are a couple of quick reviews which don't say much and rate this movie "1". Which is absurd, no way this is a "1". The midpoint of a 1 to 10 rating system is 5.5, so this one is likely best rated as a 5, 6, or 7. No, it isn't a unique and great movie but it does have decent entertainment value.

Movies are a business, nothing else, and the Producer is Kate Beckinsale who also stars as Avery Graves. She is a high level secret operative, the kind that can put on a disguise, a fake identity, carry the weapons, and take out a whole crew when the assignment calls for it. As she mentions at one point, she has a high pain tolerance.

The overall story involves foreign operatives who have a scheme (using Canary Black) for getting about one trillion dollars by a ransom play that seeks to hit every nation on Earth, otherwise a doomsday virus will be selectively released that would basically doom the countries that don't comply. Avery has to save the day almost single handedly.

For the complexity of the story this is a relatively low budget movie shot in Croatia. For my tastes there is a bit too much gun battle and a somewhat questionable chase scene with some really bad crashes but it does serve to move the story forward. In the end Avery gets into lots of trouble because of the techniques she was required to use but the ending has a sort of "La Femme Nikita" feel to it. A chance to put it all behind her.

Will there be a sequel? Time will tell.

Streaming on Prime, good video and very impressive sound if you have a decent home theater setup.

I love Kate Beckinsale. In the past she delivered some really fun movies to watch but this film...Just ugh, not that great. Plot and story is blah and predictable. Why didn't they just kept her as an English agent? And for many scenes I didn't recognize her. I know we all age and it's fine but it just doesn't even look like her. Seems there had been some work done on the face but that's not even the important part, her acting is completely off. Just seems like a Temu version of the Kate we know. This movie made it seem like she's a mediocre actress who accepted this role for the heck of it. So disappointing...