3 Days to Kill

A great time-out which in a peculiarly way tries to combine a family comedy with an action thriller full of blood and dead bodies. Costner is excellent, literally the powerhouse of the movie. This cool hit man is just his cup of tea and it’s nice to see him coming back to the silver screen more and more often. It’s hard to take your eyes off Amber and, despite being annoying and dumb, the family doesn’t get on your nerves too much either. Besson’s story is amongst his best and a big bonus was getting McGho involved, who enjoys himself royally again. First-rate action, humor a bit corny, but you will laugh. If you’re willing to give it a try. (05/09/2014)

A brutally uneven mix of intense, stark action (excellent combat, average shooting) and family issues, all in the traditionally foolish European feeling from the production of Luc Besson. No, it's not Taken "2", although the entire creative team subtly tries to make it so and occasionally innocently winks at the viewers. Several aspects are so similar that are impossible to overlook even in the dark. However, I must admit that, although it's full of clichés, very simplistic, sometimes poorly edited, and not well-managed in terms of dramaturgy, Kevin Costner has charisma to spare and Amber Heard is simply adorable. It's often even very funny. (04/20/2014)

You can smell Luc Besson’s influence in this piece from miles away. It is cool, action-packed, funny, and most importantly, the main character is so world-weary that nothing can surprise him anymore. Maybe only the fact that he is going to die soon because of some brain tumor. Kevin Costner is doing an excellent job and it is a pleasure to watch him act. The action scenes are great, and it is pretty clear that people are quite used to seeing filmmakers in the middle of Paris. What I was annoyed with is the timing of Ethan’s symptoms. They conveniently occurred in the beginning of the movie, so the villain could run away, and also in the finale when he quite enjoyed this advantage it gave him over the protagonist. It all looks pretty set up in order to allow the story to run smoothly. Another annoying thing is that you have no idea what this movie aspires to be. There is great action but also some family drama, where Kevin Costner, portraying Ethan Renner, deals with his family and acts like a good guy for twenty minutes straight. This inconsistency is damaging to the film and it doesn’t have to be. If only it was done a bit differently. But then the director couldn’t be McG, who makes good movies in a way that everyone can find something in it. (05/06/2015)

Luc Besson may be my favorite action writer, but this will probably be the first film of his I'll have to rate average. Kevin Costner is perfect, charismatic and occasionally fires off a decent wisecrack, but the filler around him is awful. The trailer lured us to an action extravaganza in the style of Die Hard, but the film doesn't offer much action and the little there is, it’s poorly directed and edited; it’s not engaging, it does nothing with the viewer, the story is convoluted, weird, the script jumps back and forth and at times I was bored. Too bad I was looking forward to it. 50%. (05/19/2014)

McG is starting to repeat himself a bit, and in combination with Luc Besson, both seem quite uninspired. It has its charge and it has ideas, but in reality, it's just a slightly more action-packed melodrama, which has one major advantage: Kevin Costner, who in recent years has shown that he certainly hasn't forgotten how to act, with characters interesting enough to at least draw you in because of him. (06/30/2014)