Criminal (2016)

User Review

• 

  Manny_In_LoFi

  4 / 10

  CRIMINAL is one of those movies that suffer from a really weak screenplay and poor casting choices, but still give you a glimpse of what could've been a good movie.
  
  For starters, this film felt like it was a Luc Besson knock-off (if Besson had tried to direct Face/Off) that tried to be smarter than it has any right to be. They throw a ridiculous premise your way and don't bother to flesh out the science in order to at least give said premise a bit of credibility.
  
  Things that could've made this film better:
  
  1) Better casting - Kevin Costner's Frankenstein-like performance was way too distracting. Someone more subtle could've pulled off the character of Jericho. Also, using a name like Ryan Reynolds was completely wasted on such a short amount of time on screen for a character that came off disposable. In fact, there were several actors in this flick that were completely wasted and could've easily been replaced by no-names.
  
  2) Running time - If this flick had been fleshed out to a mini-series, then it could've had the chance to really give credibility to the scenes that were supposed to be more on the "emotional side". The character of Jericho learns how to "feel emotion" because of the memories implanted in him. However, we were never really given any time to feel for those memories that were implanted in the first place.
  
  
  Even with these weaknesses, Criminal still managed to entertain me without rolling my eyes. I think it may entertain you as well if you gave it a chance by renting it at Redbox or if its available on Netflix. Just keep in mind that in no shape or form is this meant to be a classic. I know I gave it a 4, but its a solid high 4.

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