Film review: 3 Days To Kill

In his role as producer and scriptwriter, Luc Besson churns out another testosterone-fuelled action-thriller to complement The Transporter, Taken and Brick Mansions.
By The Newsroom
Published 25th Jun 2014, 21:00 BST
Undated Film Still Handout from 3 Days To Kill. Pictured: KEVIN COSTNER as Ethan Renner. See PA Feature FILM Film Reviews. Picture credit should read: PA Photo/Entertainment One. WARNING: This picture must only be used to accompany PA Feature FILM Film Reviews.Undated Film Still Handout from 3 Days To Kill. Pictured: KEVIN COSTNER as Ethan Renner. See PA Feature FILM Film Reviews. Picture credit should read: PA Photo/Entertainment One. WARNING: This picture must only be used to accompany PA Feature FILM Film Reviews.
Undated Film Still Handout from 3 Days To Kill. Pictured: KEVIN COSTNER as Ethan Renner. See PA Feature FILM Film Reviews. Picture credit should read: PA Photo/Entertainment One. WARNING: This picture must only be used to accompany PA Feature FILM Film Reviews.

Like those pictures, 3 Days To Kill splices a preposterous plot with explosive set pieces and offbeat humour, casting Kevin Costner as a former CIA agent who is wooed back into active service in the final months of his blood-stained life.

Besson’s script, co-written by Adi Hasak, is crudely and clumsily constructed, and peppered with scenes of staggering implausibility. For example, the gun-toting hero’s daughter enjoys her first kiss at a society party, completely oblivious to the deafening booms and crashes of a shootout downstairs.

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And when Costner’s assassin-for-hire shunts a bad guy’s car off a Parisian bridge, extras go merrily on their way as if high-speed collisions are an everyday occurrence in the capital.

But as the title suggests, the film unfolds in a restricted timeframe, which at least manages to heighten suspense.