Review of Survivor

The header says it all and there is not much to add. I was honestly interested and therefore gave it all the chances but it did not deliver. Not many films with such a potentially good cast, an interesting premise and a decent exposition are so incredibly disappointing. As the film enters the second act, it becomes less plausible by the minute, while characters seem to evolve "backwards" and lose their credibility with every single scene they play, including protagonists. Then the finale is the peak of… nothingness, non-tension and absolutely not worthy of a political thriller. No, this is an accumulation of bad writing in the first place, clumsy staging / directing in the second place and mediocre acting by some thespians who usually don't disappoint, while here they do. Often visibly second-rate CGI does not do well either (the first three minutes have the look and feel of a 1990s fan movie). While Pierce Brosnan has some interesting moments in his icy interpretation of an otherwise unmotivated villain, the great Angela Bassett is totally wasted with the flat character of US ambassador. No development, no second level, no nothing. Ah, and Milla Jovovic is… what is she, playing dumb, following her instincts because the director left her no other choice, trying to make her character a little more less bi-dimensional? Whatever she does, it doesn't really work: she's unable to build a credible protagonist with this writing material.

Sorry but whoever green-lit this did not read the script or was in a hurry to get production go ahead too early. And whoever gave this film to THIS director also did not read the script, otherwise he/she would have known that only a good (at least decent) director could perhaps have saved the miserable writing. Overall one huge disappointment that fails to deliver almost everywhere..