Survivor (2015)

Touches You

It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Just a worst movie to waste your valuable time don't ever try to watch this movie

An American military helicopter pilot is taken by insurgents in Afganistan. Kate Abbott (Milla Jovovich) is a newly arrived State Department security officer at the American embassy in London under Sam Parker (Dylan McDermott). Kate investigates Emil Balan (Roger Rees) applying for a visitor visa. Her co-workers are killed in a bombing by the Watchmaker (Pierce Brosnan) and she barely escapes his gunsight. It's a conspiracy with supervisor Bill Talbot (Robert Forster) and the terrorists. Paul Anderson (James D'Arcy) is a British security officer.This is a middling thriller. The problem is that everything is thrown at her to make her look guilty. Each evidence is questionable and filled with conveniences. Security cameras go down in one of the most surveilled cities in the world. There is basic investigative work that these experts miss out on. It's also questionable why Emil needs to go to America or if he could have supervised from London or how he got another passport anyways. Every character does some questionable action or fails to act. The actors are fine and the production is functional. The writing is simply not sharp enough. Idiocy by some of these characters taint any hope for a good thriller. In the age of terrorism fears, Kate would not be dismissed so easily even if suspicions start falling on her. Emil would be a person of interest from the beginning in the real world but the movie brushes him off with contrivances. At a certain point, I assumed half of these characters are in a conspiracy because otherwise would mean that they are written stupidly. The new year's eve time square scenario is unrealistic and Kate is only successful due to happenstance. It's poorly written.

Matt Damon plays an employee of the secret services who is wrongly-accused of a crime he didn't commit and is relentlessly pursued across a major European city by those – supposedly – on his own side. That would be the plot of – pretty much all – 'Bourne' films. Now, if you remove Matt Damon and insert Milla Jovovich in the lead then you basically have 'Survivor.' Having watched the film, I can honestly say I can't think of a single thing wrong with it. That might make it sound good. However, the problem lies in the fact that I also can't think of a single thing that's right with it, either! It's just totally run-of-the-mill and/or by-the-numbers. You could pretty much take any leading star (male or female) and have them chased around a city a bit while they try and prove their innocence and bring down the baddie then you have this.Milla Jovovich starts out like your average office employee (well, average employee of a secret government department). What I'm getting at is that she is never presented as being trained as a special forces field agent. She comes across as little more than a pen-pushing secretary. However, as soon as she's in danger she turns into her 'Alice' character from the Resident Evil franchise and starts kicking the blue blazers out of anyone who crosses her. Apart from Pierce Brosnan. Yes, he's is in it, too. I almost forgot about him. Yes, he's chasing poor old Milla. He's sort of like a less threatening Terminator, only without the foreboding presence of Arnie. He's a charming enough actor if given the right material to work with, however he hasn't got enough to do here to make him stand out.If you like your 'spy' films where the hero has to 'out' the villain in their own organisation and/or prevent some sort of disaster then you should like this. It's one of those films where if you're a fan of the genre and haven't had to actually pay to watch it (I watched it on Netflix, so it's part of my bundle!) then you probably won't feel too ripped off. I'm just sure glad I never paid full price for a cinema ticket to sit through this.

Where does one start? Let me just jump in. The heroine is supposed to be one of our best and brightest? And yet she is ignored by most of the embassy staff, except for the ambassador who eventually issues a shoot to kill order (to the Brits!)? This top grade agent escapes a bomb by a fluke and doesn't suspect the guy who missed the lunch outing that he set up? After she shoots him when he pulls a gun on her, she then comes out of a secluded spot dangling a gun so that the crowd can see her and take videos and stills? London is filthy with surveillance cams, yet she makes no attempt to alter her appearance. When she somehow catches up to the villain lining up a sniper shot on a rooftop, she puts one, count it, one bullet into him and then gets close enough to get assaulted. Sigh. A real agent would have invested three rounds.The assassin has a name that sounds like it was assigned to him by Cisco Ramon. I kept waiting to see a scarlet streak through the streets of Manhattan and up the side of the building.Back to the ambassador. Plum assignments are usually given to political donors. Yet we're supposed to believe that Amanda Waller...er, sorry, How to Get Away With Murder woman has been given this post?