The Bricklayer

I went to see it because of the name of the great actor Aaron Eckhart on the bill. Contrary to many others, I do still really appreciate many of his latest movies, but this is definitely not one of them...

The bad: Aaron Eckhart does a good job at acting, it's not his fault this movie flopped, but his opposing leading actress has got ZERO charisma or chemistry. Who decided to cast her? She acts like she walked straight of the set of a cheap television soap series. A total nobody.

This whole movie has got a cheap look and feel. But let's forget about all that for a moment, the only crucial question left is: has it got riveting action or suspenseful plot turns. NO!

Aaron Eckhart fans be warned, he does still act well, but this movie is quite a tedious dread to watch.

The film is still running through my mind. While I enjoyed the film, the director used every bloody cliche in the book. Setting scenes to give the viewers a comparison impression between James Bond, and The Bricklayer. You might almost thinking they were trying to create a "Brand" so that there could be future Bricklayer films. Transparent hopes of more, when the film has so many flaws may be doomed to disappointment. Many of the scenes also had actors either posing for the scene, or either looking at the camera, or every other way except at the camera. Some of them near broke their necks avoiding looking at the camera, even when they were in very abnormal postures. The film editing was sloppy, even when a better edit would have avoided revealing the more obvious flaws.

What happened to movie producers? Does anyone care about the movies they create anymore? There was a time when casting a role in a movie came down to the best actors you could get. With that said, I dont think Nina Dobrev was a good casting choice.

This movie is yet another cookie cutter secret assassin flick. There is not a whole lot of chemistry between the 2 main characters and I think Nina Dobrev is partly to blame. It doesnt seem like she's putting much effort into her role in this movie and it shows! Aaron is a good actor but when you pair a good one with one that's not putting in the effort, it brings the whole movie down. The Bricklayer is another movie that I will say is not the worst i've seen, but it is not very good either.

The Bricklayer is directed by Renny Harlin and stars Aaron Eckhart and Nina Dobrev.

This week is The Bricklayer next week is The Beekeeper. Going to be honest for a direct to video action movie dumped In the first week of January I was expecting a lot worse. Don't get me wrong this definitely has a lot of issues but for a DTV movie this looks pretty professional likely due to veteran action director Renny Harlin (Die Hard 2 and Cliffhanger) behind the camera and the Greece location actually gives this movie a sense of vibrancy and color throughout.

It was nice to see Aaron Eckhart in something again. Although after watching this I was curious on what the hell happened to his career and upon further investigation I found out that Eckhart is actually a notorious method actor so my guess is he rubbed some people the wrong way and he can't get any mainstream work anymore which is sad if true because I think he is talented. Counting this I've now seen Nina Dobrev in three movies and I'm kind of suprised she's not a big mainstream actress by now she possesses all the qualities to be one in my opinion but when she has movies like XXX: Return Of Xander Cage, The Out Laws, and now The Bricklayer on her resume you got to wonder if her agent is the problem.

So two likable lead actors, and a well shot and semi professional looking movie but unfortunately the overall story is what lets this movie down. It's just very cliche, very paint by numbers you've seen this a million times before and it's not done particularly well here either. There's a third act twist that you could see coming a mile away if you know how basic storytelling works also. Not sure if Renny Harlin and Eckhart will want to reunite for a potential sequel but honestly why wouldn't they because what else do they have going on these days.

I don't understand who green-lights these movies. Did no one read the script before they started shooting? This is just so freaking mediocre.

Writing: the story is derivative as hell and dumb AF, there is no character development at all, and the dialogue is uncomfortably cringeworthy.

Acting: Aaron Eckhart is a good actor, but in this movie, no one delivers a remotely decent performance. Especially Nina Dobrev, who at least in this film, brings no range whatsoever, no chemistry with the lead actor and a truly amateur performance. The support cast is no better.

Directing: a disjointed and incoherent mess with nothing but a few passable action sequences to pacify the tedium.

I strongly encourage the writers to hang up the gloves. When ChatGPT can do a better job than you do, it's time to look into a different line of work.