3 Days to Kill (2014)
Directed by McG
A dangerous international spy is determined to give up his high stakes life to finally build a closer relationship with his estranged wife and daughter. But first, he must complete one last mission - even if it means juggling the two toughest assignments yet: hunting down the world's most ruthless terrorist and looking after his teenage daughter for the first time in ten years, while his wife is out of town.
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What critics compared 3 Days to Kill to
I picture Besson fondling dusty VHS copies of “The Sopranos” and “True Lies” gloating, “No one will ever discover my secret sources of inspiration!”
It worked in films released 10 or 20 years ago (see True Lies or Mr. and Mrs. Smith), but here it feels played out, clichéd.
"True Lies" seems to be the clear template, at least as far as Besson and co-writer Adi Hasak's script is concerned, although there is a whole bunch of Besson's own "Taken" in the mix as well, particularly during a sequence where Costner rescues his young daughter from a potential gang rape situation at a local Parisian nightclub.
The conflict between the finesse Ethan demonstrates in his professional duties and the complete incompetence with which he approaches parenting is meant to be comedic, although the film doesn’t have the light touch of similar spy-family action-laffers like “Mr. and Mrs. Smith,” “True Lies” or McG’s own “This Means War.” Instead, “3 Days to Kill” proves surprisingly po-faced about trying to build the bond between Ethan and Zooey, even in the midst of moments as goofy as Dad consoling his daughter on a bad hair day, teaching her to dance or buying her a purple bicycle just because that was her favorite color as a kid.
That year alone it shared multiplex time with Denzel Washington’s The Equalizer , Kevin Costner’s 3 Days To Kill and the granddaddy of them all, Liam Neeson in Taken 3 .
Peppermint suggests Riley’s shift to savagery is a side effect of brain trauma suffered in the initial drive-by — Limitless with a lust for blood or 3 Days to Kill with a conscience.