Gerard Butler has more or less started to become a version of Liam Neeson lately. He has starred in films that allow him to be the man. Rather the savior role. He did this pretty well in the Fallen Series of film White House, London and Angles. This has become his lane in Hollywood as evident by Greenland last year, Plane earlier this year and his latest movie Kandahar. Where once again he plays the white savior.
Tom Harris (Gerard Butler) is an undercover CIA agent in the middle east where he has been caught in Afghanistan because of the fact that his mission has been exposed to hostiles. All he has on his side is his interpreter played by Navid Negahban and his operator, Travis Fimmel from Vikings fame, who is trying to help him escape the country. Along the way he has to overcome a lot of obstacles.
Kandahar is the latest in a series of action films that put men and or women at odds with governments and or terrorist groups in the Middle east. Regarding Hollywood these types of people or regimes make for very good bad guys. Which in turn make for good suspenseful action films. The obstacles in the way of the main character make for an all around good story. Throw in the action sequences and fight scenes and you have a good movie.
Ric Roman Waugh has worked with Butler on a number of occasions. So these two have a shorthand with each other. It seems like Butler is playing this role with ease. The dialog and technical jargon flow out of his mouth throughout the movie. The same goes for others in the film. All this dialog would normally be a bit confusing for most but in this movie all of this stuff comes across like two normal people having a conversation.
One of the aspects I noticed that looked very good was the cinematography. The film is mostly filmed in the desert so that it looks amazing and the various sunrises and vista’s in the distance all look very beautiful. It’s like it’s own character in the movie. The locations are that key of a part of this story. The Waugh made sure these aspects worked in context to the rest of the film. And the story worked as well.
Kandahar is a good action film with action and fight scenes that kept me interested throughout. Butler has found his niche in this genre and his shorthand with Waugh has made these film second hand nature for the two of them. They make it look easy. The look of the movie was also part of what I enjoyed about it. It’s not going to blow anybody away but it is a fine film that most people will enjoyed like I did. It’s not trying to do anything to crazy either. It is what it is.
3 stars
Dan Skip Allen
From the Fourth Row! 