20140227: Action Review--The Courier

The Courier

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. American live action feature length film, 2012, rated R, 95 minutes, action, thriller.
2. IMDB: 4.5/10.0 from 3,163 audience ratings. Estimated budget, 15.5 million USD.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 'No reviews yet,' 11% liked it from 239 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 3.3/5.0 from 289,948 audience ratings.
5. Directed by: Hany Abu-Assad.
6. Starring: Jeffrey Dean Morgan as The Courier, Mickey Rourke as Maxwell, Josie Ho as Anna, Til Schweiger as Lispy, Mark Margolis as Stitch, Lily Taylor as Mrs. Capo, Miguel Ferrer as Mr. Capo.


2. Setup and Plot
1. The opening sequence in the amusement park was so-so.  It had the dusty smell of comic book turned live action, but not in a good way.


2. While Stitch is binding up his wounds from the opening sequence, The Courier gets a new case.  He's offered 120,000 USD if he succeeds; if not, people who like him, but don't know his criminal associations, will be enlightened, but not in a good way.  So he takes the job.


3. The Courier (can't remember his name or early life) gets a clue to the whereabouts of his target, Evil Sivle (oi, Elvis Live) from the Internet, plus some porous online databases.  Before leaving his base in New Orleans, he gets some serious hand weapons, and transportation in the form of a stolen key to a private propeller plane.  Anna flies him to St Louis since Stitch sent her.  He finds the person he wanted to talk to, but a hit man arrives and kills the contact.  On the body of the hit man, The Courier finds a sheet of paper with three pictures on it; these are his next clues.


4. Anna and the Courier fly to their next city, which is New Orleans, where he started.  The hit man already took out his target in Lake Charles, St Louis was his second successful stop, New Orleans his third.  The Courier finds his last hope of a contact, but Mr and Mrs Capo are in hot pursuit. They manage to escape for a while, and the Courier gets a little information linking Evil Sivle and Maxwell.  Then the hit succeeds, and the Courier spends time with the police.  He uses the stay to borrow police computers to get information on Evil Sivle (Connor Maxwell), who is Maxwell's son by adoption or some bogus common law sort of thing.


5. The chase goes on and on.  The Capos have to be dealt with, and Maxwell has to be found.  Supposing the Courier succeeds, will he deliver the package?


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: Amnesiac confronts his identity; reasonable film, but please no sequel.
2. Three stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 8/10 Dark, gloomy, but well-shot.


2. Sound: 7/10 Eh, OK.


3. Acting: 6/10 There are some good actors here: Mickey Rourke, Mark Margolis, Lily Taylor, Miguel Ferrer, and Josie Ho; Jeffrey Dean Morgan is not so bad either.  So, what happened?  The screenplay is too simplistic and not up to the quality of the actors.


4. Screenplay: 4/10 The closing credits were extra long due to large number of producers on the film.  'Too many cooks spoil the broth.'  Perhaps too many producers (or not enough direction) spoil the film.  The ending was easily predictable, no surprise at all, but did beg for a sequel, which I hope will not come.