Movie Review: “Criminal” features a solid Kevin Costner

MOVIE REVIEW: CRIMINAL (R)

A couple of weeks ago, we were treated to the dizzying, first-person experimentation that was the “Bourne Identity”/”Robocop”-infused action movie  “Hardcore Henry.” “Criminal” has an equally nutty premise, only it drops the first-person gimmick and hyper-stylized approach. This movie also takes its subject matter seriously, which, at times, makes “Criminal” more entertaining than one might expect.

In “Criminal,” killer inmate Jericho Stewart (Kevin Costner) gets a brand new lease on life after being plucked from prison and thrown into an experiment that ultimately finds the memories of a dead CIA operative implanted in his head. At first, the memories don’t take hold. But soon, this killer without a conscience finds himself wrestling with emotions he’s never experienced before.

Eventually, Jericho finds himself engaged in the very mission that his dead operative counterpart failed to complete, a mission that will find him at odds with a blowhard government official (Gary Oldman), matching wits with diabolical baddie Xavier Heimdahl (Jordi Molla), and bonding with a single mother (Gal Gadot) who is reeling from the recent death of her husband.

“Criminal” is the kind of high-concept action movie that might have starred Seagal or Van Damme had it come out in the ’80s. Instead, this flick stars the likes of Costner, Oldman, and Tommy Lee Jones, and its makers opt to play the rather goofy subject matter straight. In short, “Criminal” is a B-movie with A-list pedigree. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. In fact, “Criminal” is more entertaining than the 28 percent Rotten Tomatoes rating would have you believe, and a big reason for that is Kevin Costner’s performance.

Costner is a ton of fun in this picture, bringing a weird sort of Tom Hardy-like intensity to the role (listen for perfectly placed grunts). And as dumb and convoluted as the proceedings tend to get here, the “Dances With Wolves” star is pretty darn solid throughout. In addition to his hardened, cold-killer-instinct moments, Costner’s softer, quieter scenes with Gal Gadot are surprisingly effective. Speaking of Gadot, this wonder woman manages to bring far more emotional weight to her role than was probably on the written page. Whatever “it” is, Gadot has a lot of “it.”

Oldman is on cruise control in “Criminal” and spends the majority of the movie yelling. Molla is rather dull as the heavy, but Antje Traue has some pleasantly sadistic moments as his right-hand woman. Michael Pitt is virtually wasted as a mysterious hacker at the heart of Jericho’s mission. Jones brings a surprising level of warmth to the underwritten role of the doctor assigned to experiment on Jericho’s head. A currently red-hot Ryan Reynolds pops up in “Criminal,” too, and while he brings energy to the table, fans of the “Deadpool” star might be disappointed to learn that he’s only in this movie for about 15 minutes.

“Criminal” has its action-oriented charms. It isn’t an masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination, and its feeble attempt at setting this story up as a franchise is presumptuous, to say the least. Still, there’s something to be said for a lack of expectations, and in the end, this movie is more entertaining than it probably has any right to be — and we have a committed Costner to thank for that.