Chief of Station

...

And I only said that out of respect. Sometimes the film is so bad that it becomes good in a sort of back to front logic .... this here does not

It is thoroughly bad through and through the only saving grace and this has been mentioned in other comments is the fact that it moves around beautiful cities... Everything is spelt out for you as if anything more complicated than a comix For a six-year-old would make your brain misfire.

The fight scenes are so bad we wonder why anybody included them here; they make absolutely no sense they must have been choreographed by some canines at the pound Who could not find a home and had to been given a task to keep them occupied. It is an absolute shocker

And yet and yet if you can fully disengage your mind for an hour and a half and you really have nothing else to do and I mean absolutely nothing else to do you might get through it

A solid three for Budapest and other locations which might or might not be what they claim to be.

I like Eckhart. I like action espionage movies, but whilst this one holds the attention, it is a bit bland. I swithered between a 6 or 7 score but gave it a 6 due to the clunky, slowly fight scenes (Pettyfer's looked especially un-coordinated & slow - I swear I could almost hear/see him counting down the timed movements in each sequence. I just don't rate him as an actor at all & much preferred Otto Farrant as Alex Rider to Pettyfer's bland interpretation. A pretty boy lead for RomCom maybe, but no action lead).

Bleak landscape (which they could've made more use of), bleak storyline & very dark cinematics helped create a feeling of oppressed pressure - for which, TBH, there wasn't much release. I wanted to rip that gun out of his son's hands when they were under fire in the films big dramatic car chase (is it just me, or have these obligatory action car chases in EVERY film become boring? There's no replacement for great acting, character building or suspense building on a decent storyline. Big budget doesn't always = quality.

This could've been so much better & a whole lot brighter in colour. Continuity was also an issue (see earlier reviews). Eckhart & Kurylenko were watchable as always, but more could've developed for her character more for role & story development. Some real depth would've been good. Ok for an easy late night or rainy day watch, but not to be properly entertained. A quick burger type of movie, rather than a steak dinner one. In a few weeks, I doubt I'll remember this one. It passes the time quite pleasurably, but it won't rock or change your world. 6/10.

Director Jesse V Johnson is better known for his collaboration with martial arts actor Scott Adkins in movies such as The Debt Collector.

In Chief of Station he goes for espionage but comes up short both in action and story.

Ben Malloy (Aaron Eckhart) is the CIA station chief whose world falls apart after his wife's death.

However Ben is drawn back into the shadowy world, after his former adversaries are killed. He learns that his son is in danger and discovers that he cannot trust anyone, even his former allies.

From very much the early scenes, you can guess who will turn against Ben Malloy. There is nothing here in terms of a good story.

That leaves the action scenes to do the heavy lifting. Unfortunately Eckhart is no Adkins. He is perfunctory with the action scenes but the script is not good enough for him to stretch his acting chops.

I am a big Aaron Eckhart fan and HE was THE reason I started watching this, but what a disappointment it turned out to be...

The bad: from the get go I notice this is a cheaply produced movie, with uneventful photography, a way too overbearing soundscore and above all WAY too many below average supporting actors.

More bad: what's really annoying (and disappointing) though is the fact that this is meant to be a serious and tough crime movie, but the action is so silly that it flexed my laughing muscles.

There simply is NO suspense, NO thrill, NO originality, it's a nothing burger. Aaron Eckhart has made some solid movies lately, but this is defnitely not one of them!

Starts good, money spent on the action but honestly how can a director miss key important areas...half way through it's becomes more like a b movie... I had to send it to my daughter a future continuation director to use as an example! For example (1) the lock on the door opened by the necklace! It's a padlock... with a screw on hinge... one kick and the door would open.. or just break in through the glass windows! Seriously all that effort for the necklace... to open a padlock!! Should have been access to a bank vault container or secret sealed room.. (2) shooting in the warehouse... with 2 trained soldiers shooting straight down the corridor at him... in a million years a kid wouldn't miss that shot! (3) car exits warehouse past the soldiers and crashes... time it takes for the soldiers to get outside they must have been on a coffee break!! (4) bullet holes in the driver side door of his car! But he's still ok (5) not ducking down when driving towards 2 gunmen, fairly sure thats not typical human behaviour (6) the last scene in Paris looks like a Hollywood stage set... anyway so many more but mainly in the last half of the movie...almost like they sacked a continuation director half way through or ran out of money... would have cost nothing to fix this and make it a way better movie. I'll happily review movies for free lol.