Critics reviled Director McG’s 3 Days to Kill, but the movie struck a place of resonance with SQ Reviews.
In 3 Days to Kill, Kevin Costner plays a CIA assassin named Ethan Renner. He has spent his life choosing career over family, but when Ethan discovers he has cancer, he retires and dedicates the remainder of his time to reconnecting with his ex-wife (played by Connie Nielson) and daughter (played by Hailee Steinfeld). He promises his ex-wife that he is finished with his work, but when femme fatale Vivi Delay (Amber Heard) offers a miraculous cancer treatment in exchange for another assassination, Ethan finds himself juggling work and family once again.
The movie’s attempts at sexiness with leather-clad characters like Vivi Delay come off as cheap, and caricatures of foreigners reflect either the director’s lack of imagination or his lack of respect for his viewer’s imagination.
When SQ Reviews sits down in the back lot behind the Education Department to talk, we are aware of the director’s artistic failings. It quickly becomes clear, however, that Ethan Renner’s struggle to make the right decisions is our struggle. His victory when he wakes up and chooses his family, when his family chooses him, is our victory.
“I think it was a good idea poorly executed,” Emile DeWeaver says. He wears glasses with brown rims and seems to smile for no reason. “The story strived for something worthwhile though.”
“I think whoever made this movie would like you to think there’s some redeeming value,” said Erin O’Connor who is also 6’4” with a narrow mouth and jaw that makes him look furious even when his face is at parade rest. “But what’s redeeming about a guy killing everybody?”
Rashaan Thomas sits a little straighter. He is from New York, and he would look like Spike Lee if Spike Lee was Puerto Rican and tall. “I’ve done some wicked stuff, man, doesn’t mean I don’t love my kids. I feel the dude. He’s killing people for his country, thinking he’s making the world a better place for his family.”
“He’s doing the wrong thing for the right reasons,” Miguel Quezada says.
“I used to tell myself stuff like that all the time,” Thomas continues. “I felt like I had to take care of my kids. I didn’t want them to suffer like I’d suffered. So, I got them trust funds and all kind of crazy stuff. I thought I had to get them out the hood. But, it’s crazy; everything I tried to get for them, they didn’t need. I went to prison, lost everything, and they made it without any of that trust fund stuff. My son hit me with that once, and it messes me up. He didn’t need that stuff. He just needed me there.” Thomas emphasizes his words by repeatedly raising his hand and throwing it toward the ground. The atmosphere swims with Thomas’ regret. If the rest of us add ours, we will all drown in our collective disappointments.
We averaged out our ratings, and on a scale of one to five dinner cookies, 3 Days to Kill rates two and a half cookies.
Contributors: Emile DeWeaver, Aaron Taylor, Erin O’ Connor, Juan Meza, Miguel Quezada, Rahsaan Thomas and Tommy Winfrey
