Kevin Costner Uglies Up for “Criminal”
By Skip Sheffield
What is up with Kevin Costner? Is he trying to disavow his
handsome movie star image?
One might think so from “Criminal,” Costner’s latest movie.
Costner starts out as long-haired and bearded. Then his hair is shorn into an
ugly buzz cut so his brain can be operated upon to implant the memories and
experiences of another man.
The memories are from a CIA operative named Bill Pope (Ryan
Reynolds). Pope is killed before he can complete his mission of defeating a
young hacker known as “The Dutchman” (Michael Pitt).
Jericho Stewart (Kevin Costner) is a death row inmate
presumably assumed expendable. In this far-fetched fantasy by the late Douglas
Cook, who died in 2015, and David Weisberg, who collaborated with Cook on
“Double Jeopardy,” Stewart is operated upon by Dr. Franks (Tommy Lee Jones, looking
more furrowed and wrinkled than ever) and implanted with the memories of Bill
Pope in hopes Jericho can catch the dastardly Dutchman, It gets more confusing
from there. Bill Pope had a beautiful wife named Jill (stunning Israeli actress
Gal Gadot, who is Wonder Woman in the current “Batman vs Superman” movie). The
director is another Israeli, Aviel Vroman, who previously collaborated with the
screenwriters and Tommy Lee Jones on “Double Jeopardy.”
I couldn’t quite figure out who the character of Quaker
Wells (Gary Oldman) was supposed to be. I’m guessing a CIA muckety-muck, but
much of the plot is murky. What is not murky is the special effects and “blow
up real good” stunts. The setting is mostly in London, England, which is at
least scenic.
Kevin Costner has had winners (“Bull Durham,” “Field of
Dreams” and “Dances With Wolves), and he has had losers (“Waterworld,” “The
Postman). I think “Criminal” ranks in the second category.
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