So, what do we see? Not a bad plot, twisted in the style of a spy action movie, full of dynamic scenes, there is rather a plus (although some scenes are not worse than Bollywood militants), well-directed, the production does not limp, and the cast is not bad, of course, a lot of blunders, but in general, it is difficult to say something positive, even Gerard Butler did not take this program and, in my opinion, he did not cope with the role, because he does not cause sympathy that you usually feel for the protagonists of such films. Further worse, we are all probably used to Western propaganda and exceptionalism of the United States in such films, where America is the hero of the savior of the whole world, but here the politicization is simply off the scale, although of course they tried to open the curtain, like “US officials deny participation in the bombings”, thereby showing how they actually do, but still after the first 10 minutes, there is a dissonance in the head, i.e. 2 a spy, one state, conduct sabotage in another country, where thousands of civilians are killed and they are persecuted for it, like this is called a war crime, but no, they have to worry about their fate, so we have to worry about them. Double standards in all their glory. That is, if 2 spies from Iran, on the territory of the United States would blow up a nuclear facility, these are bad guys and you can not worry about them.
Separately, I would like to note that the creators of the film tried to show a certain political game - the race for the protagonist, it turned out not so much, a lot of plot holes and porridge from "interested" groups ... it seems that the writers of this film wanted to show that the entire Islamic world is terrorists. The only person you want to worry about in this movie is the Iranian intelligence colonel, not the main character.
Logic zero, and many times, you torture to list. There were pianos under each bush, but since it happens in the desert, there are no bushes, but there are pianos. And as usual in such stupid fighters, at the last second, when everything is already cranked, and there is no way out, the magic cavalry jumped through the air and defeated everyone. The main characters play poorly, the secondary ones play well. Therefore, the hero Gerard Butler and his translator is not at all sorry, I was rooting for the Iranians with the Pakistanis, for the Pakistanis more, their motorcycle rider is in style, like James Bond from Bollywood, and the Iranians are too correct, only think about the good of the fatherland. Not like the corrupt Butler hero, ready for any diversion for money. There are many dark scenes in the film, where even with HDR, nothing in the shadows is visible. Of the pluses, only shootings and chases are good, stuntmen are good. And the script, the operator and the main characters spoil everything.
The potential of a good action movie certainly was, but the listed disadvantages spoil everything, it turned out to be average. Although if you turn off your head, but under the beer, you can watch.
Rick Roman Waugh, director of Shot into the Void, Angel Falls and Greenland, is not something I like as an author, although his latest disaster film is more than a spectacular big-screen movie. I got acquainted with his latest film “The Fugitive” (another cool localization for our market) and can state the fact that the political / espionage thriller still hits me. Yes, this is not a story about Jack Bauer, Ethan Hunt or James Bond, but it is quite watchable.
The problem with such paintings is only one: you are always either confused in events due to genre, or do not understand what is happening due to lack of exposure. Here everything is rather nominal, and understandable without words. Another diversion of British agents on the territory of ISIS / Daesh in order to undermine the infrastructure and a preventive strike against the nuclear potential of the country. Another one in the field warrior. Again, you have to get out of the hot spot alive, even though your country is "just forget about you." Watching this work, you will be reluctant to compare it to Richie's "Translator," because they came out plus or minus at the same time. That’s just Richie turned out to be a really cool and tense action movie, which cannot be said about Kandahar. There are only two comments here: I wanted more suspense and action scenes, of which there are very few. This format coolly fell on the conditional “Homeland” with Claire Danes in the title role due to the seriality, but here the full meter. I want more action, more action.
The advantages of the movie are not limited to: a fascinating, excitingly written thriller with a good controlling idea, which is the antipode of Saving Private Ryan: you are just a cog in the system, and no one in principle will save you when the smoke drops. You must count only on yourself, for you are merely collateral damage and a waste in the hands of those in power.
I love the way the movie looks and sounds: it’s a beautifully done job. An abundance of hand-held camera and field shooting, sound design pleases the ears, high-quality lipsin in post-production.
Acting jobs are common: in fact, there is a benefit of Butler, who plays a typical MI6 agent outside his comfort zone. In the background, Navid Negaban, whom he saw for the first time. This character helps both move the plot and reveal the plot branch of the protagonist.
In the end, "The Fugitive" is a good movie for the evening. A purely male movie for a male company. Replete with good meaning and high-quality technical execution, it will still seem secondary. You’ve probably seen something similar before. “Kandahar” is a default work that claims nothing: neither awards, nor audience love, nor cult.
6 out of 10
Watchable. Strange commentators looking for script novelty in classic action movies. Actually, Arabs usually shoot, and Americans who are experienced in war, usually do not speak Arabic, so you need guides-interpreters, not plumbers or sales managers - what is surprising? Well played, good picture, action is present and without stupid frills. It's also very topical. Only a pretentious ending spoils everything, but there is nothing to do - Hollywood standard.
The action takes place in Afghanistan, the CIA officer Harris has failed his mission and the hunt for him begins. But not so simple, the best special forces were connected, and since he also does not know the language, he was sent an interpreter. The film reminds me of a cheap parody of The Translator directed by Guy Ritchie.
What's the plot of the movie? We are told that it is a militant, but in fact it is riding in an empty desert. But it's funny, it's all over. Honestly, it was the most dull and boring 2 hours of my life. I didn’t have the emotions and impressions I expected from the film initially.
It was as if Iran and Afghanistan were trying to make a bad impression. Even if you take the motorcycle situation, is there an elite force at work? Or what did they want to show us? I didn’t like the story at all. Shooting is fun. The picture is beautiful, in general, pleasing to the eye.
What about the actors? They don't make me feel much. At first, he is cool and causes sympathy, and then, however, nothing interesting happens.
The best thing about this film is the beginning and end of it with a spectacular shootout, there is nothing else to watch. On the one hand, the idea was good, but it did not work.
The conclusion of the film is that you will be disappointed in the film. The fugitive was deprived of interest and interest on my part. At the beginning of the film, the main actor evoked positive emotions and attracted to himself, but by the end, on the contrary, he became boring and gray. The story of the translator who helped Butler was not fully disclosed.
4 out of 10
The cynicism of American culture: “There are families in the United States, and others are waiting for death.”
"30 Hours of Rescue" is revealed through justified violence and a pile of corpses. Hollywood actor Gerard Butler starred in action films. This movie came out mediocre. CIA officials regret leaving Afghanistan. There's so much cynicism in those words. The CIA overthrows governments, conducts operations all over the world without even leaving anyone alive. Tom Harris failed his mission - so much cynicism in those words. Director Rick Roman Waugh made an action movie where he gives the main character a chance to shoot Muslims. Americans need a politically correct enemy to buy their films all over the world. Therefore, the Afghan mujahideen are suited to this role. I didn't like the movie. 2 hours looking at the sands and senseless killings is stupid. A CIA employee is like a thorn in the eye of the Arab world. The moral of the film is simple: “Not even thousands of other nationalities can compare to the life of an American.” An American action movie about a master in killing Afghans. Director Waugh conveyed the atmosphere of the mountains and sand of Afghanistan, but such landscapes are not relevant.
One day, on the seven-hundredth birthday of an Afghan, the emir asked him: “How did you live so long when there were only enemies around?” The Afghan replied, “Serve the strong.” In this parable from the film, the entire philosophy of the US hegemon is told. This is an action movie and human life is worth nothing. All militants value life at the cost of a bullet. It's a repulsive movie. He is cynical that a righteous murderer has a daughter, and a date with her is worth far more than the lives of Afghans. Director Rick Roman Waugh makes the drama, strengthening the daughter of the main character and the family of the antagonist Butler. Families are and are deaths. It sounds too philosophical. Americans make action movies and sell them all over the world. It's a boring action movie. The action film is made without a light and a cinematic climax. I watched the movie as if I had eaten sour.
For producer and actor Gerard Butler, killing people in movies is a ritual. These films are funded by the American gun lobby. The cost of living is the cost of a bullet. The CIA knows that. That is why director Rick Roman Waugh praises such intelligence services.
It was sad to sit in the room and look at Afghanistan. A lot of deaths and a CIA officer, Tom, who knows everything, and whose daughter is waiting so much. It's the cynicism of American culture: "In the United States, there are families, and others are only waiting for death."
Honestly, there were few expectations from the film. I was supposed to see a good fighter on military topics. Instead, he got an absolutely mediocre film with a bunch of unnecessary dialogue and a very mediocre parody of drama.
There is a little in common with the film with the recent film Translator Guy Ritchie, but only a little, namely, that the Agent and the Translator work together, but if Guy Ritchie Gillenhaal and Salim gave a stunning duet and very motivated the whole film, reminded of strong men, then you forget about the game of Butler and Negaban immediately after watching.
The main claim to the director is why shoot an action movie about allegedly Afghanistan and Iran, where the action can be counted on the fingers? Yes, the ending turned out to be spectacular in terms of shooting, but the main characters did not actually participate in it.
If at first the hero of Butler somehow still interested in his conversations, how he showed football on the phone, a conversation with his ex-wife, then interest in him began to disappear, boring, dull and lack of motivation.
The interpreter at first went out to see his son die and tried to portray drama. By the way, the topic about the wife's sister was not that it was not disclosed, but not even marked properly. Why was it necessary to talk about her? Some questions and few answers.
On the one hand, the film seems to be drawn out, but on the other hand, no topic is essentially disclosed as well as the characters. It's funny to watch a CIA agent who is exposed so easily to the point of impossibility, and he immediately shows how cool he can destroy evidence that prevented him from doing his job so quickly. And the presence of an interpreter in his team is absolutely unnecessary for such a specialist. In fact, he would have managed without him or hired someone younger.
If you take the political component of the film, then everything here is also very confused and pathetic. It feels like the director wanted to portray Iran and Afghanistan as something bad and medieval. There are many secondary characters who easily appear and disappear.
The Fugitive is a completely empty and uninteresting film. Butler liked it at first, but then it got dull and boring. I didn’t see the drama, there were no emotions, the action was only at the end. The story is not revealed, the heroes are not revealed. A couple of good explosions, good music at times, and not a few themes that need very much improvement. Everything there is to say about this film. If you choose this topic, then it is better to watch the Translator Guy Ritchie there, unlike this misunderstanding, there is something to pay attention to.
5 out of 10
Kandahar from Ancient Greek - Alexandria in Arachosia
Another version of The Translator. It seems that the American almost author’s cinema has begun an era of rethinking the war in Afghanistan subjectively and objectively in general all its wars of the beginning of this millennium.
Maybe this is another agitation, showing Iran as something evil, as well as a neighboring country (well, not the countries themselves, but their authorities). Maybe this is an anti-American trend, in the sense of anti-government (against Americans who always stick their nose in other people’s affairs, in foreign countries). Maybe another attempt to make Butler once again a hero of an action movie, this time a spy. Maybe it's all in the same bottle. Hu kerz, as they say. The main thing is that there is a legal film to watch.
The production and plot, in places, in many places, are not too realistic. But the picture is beautiful, though the terrain, infrastructure, buildings in the frame, cars and everything else clearly do not correspond to the declared locations - too many modern things, which in Afghanistan can not be at the moment. Strange choice of subjects in general for the film with Butler. There is so much politics in fact, a lot of acute issues, even slightly involved religion, there is terrorism.
Quiet war. There are high-profile wars, and there are quiet ones, sometimes bursting with explosions and shootings. At the forefront of "quiet" wars are usually special services, one of which works our hero. Security services often act dirty, their methods of work are thinner, but at the same time harsher than even the regular army. They do not hesitate to lie, pretend to be friends, achieve their goals at almost any cost. The price of a person’s life for them is zero if this life is on the way to achieving a goal, an important goal.
In short, we need to take the agent, the uncovered agent, out of a country that almost no European or North American would risk being in today. But it's all lyrics. Chasing, shooting, blowing up, philosophizing about today?
I watched "The Fugitive" after Guy Ritchie's "Translator" and certainly noticed some similarities. Here, too, we have an American soldier on a special mission in the Middle East, with him a faithful interpreter, and an operation going on in the ground that forces the main characters to break away and run away from armed people. But the films are still very different. Here, too, there is the theme of mutual assistance of the military and the translator, but the main character remains the military performed by my beloved Gerard Butler.
After blowing up the secret laboratory of the terrorists, where they created nuclear weapons, the main character is uncovered and he has to flee to his base in another city. There will be chases, shooting, searching for allies, the unwillingness of the authorities to be set up because of one military, military brotherhood, enemies of different colors, thoughts of family and the desire to live and not give up for them.
Butler is no longer young, but his character has an inner strength that drives him forward. To his hero imbued with more sympathy than to the hero of Jake Gyllenhaal, he has soulfulness, he knows how to be grateful. He is alive, human, and at the same time does not lose the inner core, retains impeccable professionalism. You empathize with the hero from beginning to end. I would recommend watching.
Here we have a simplified (albeit much simpler) "Translator" Guy Ritchie. Let’s roll call: there is an Arab translator, there is an American savior, there is Afghanistan, although in fact there is an action in Iran, but heroes also run to Afghanistan. Not the worst director Rick Roman Waugh, who put “Fast Bullet” and “Shot into the void” managed to shoot an action movie without an action movie. For 2 hours of dull rides through the desert duet of good guys and their pursuers, the shootout will be only once, closer to the final, and it will do even without the participation of the protagonists! Well, 1.5 times because the night (black cat in the dark, yes) idiocy called “a car goes and a helicopter flies at the same height almost at arm’s length and the guys lazily exchange pif-puffs” pulls at least on the triquel of “Hot Heads” (immediately “Naked Gun” with a legendary shootout remembered) or the award “The most idiotic action scene in the history of cinema”.
Instead of making a strong Bashka from a two-line plot in the spirit of the recent "Crash", they decided to remove some despondency with a bunch of dialogues, tortured pseudo-drama, driving a typewriter through the desert (they were removed from drones beautifully, but this is now the case in almost every film) - in general, they did everything to turn out not an action movie, but lousy nonsense. There is also a cool Afghan special agent, who for the whole film only did that beautifully rode a motorcycle for the hero Butler and three times erotic and pathetic removed the helmet to show an excellent styling and anointed face with fashionable bristles. And when he ran out of gasoline (or broke something), I really laughed — and after all, he had to call a conditional “evacuator” in the middle of the desert in the story — the pancake wasn’t filmed? The only thing that is really cool in the film is the explosions, and the most ambitious of the trailer after the missile attack in the finale, and a couple smaller in the middle – that’s it! In general, the recent "Crash", filmed, by the way, for less money, albeit with an airplane on a rope, but honestly and well gave out an action and was a strong genre. This total misunderstanding is suitable only for the benefit, as never and under no circumstances do not need to remove the action.
4 out of 10
Dear Gerard, please do not agree to be in any more mediated action films. Do you remember how they came out in the Wave Conquerors, that scent of space? . . .