Release Date: 02/21/2014
A dying Secret Service Agent trying to reconnect with his estranged daughter is offered an experimental drug that could save his life in exchange for one last assignment.
Hollywood has noticed since Taken that we enjoy seeing an aging star turned into a badass father thanks to smash cuts and stunt doubles making them look much more spry than they really are. And they've realized that aging stars will gladly throw on a little Just For Men hair coloring and play a badass as some sort of mid-life crisis. From the aforementioned Neeson to Aaron Eckhart (Erased) to Denzel Washington (Man on Fire), these guys apparently just can't resist "reinventing" themselves with Denzel being the only bold enough to not have an only-child daughter along for the ride (Just kidding: Dakota Fanning's dad was a total absentee so Denzel became her father figure). Heck, Tom Cruise has made an entire career since 2000 playing characters too badass for his 50+ years old diminutive stature to actually be. Note: Bruce Willis has a lifetime pass from ridicule in this genre. As part of the 59 year old Costner's (Happy BIrthday, Kevin!) sudden resurgence in Hollywood, it appears he'll be checking off this box as well.
Apparently considering Mission Impossible's protagonist to be too subtly named as Ethan Hunt, the producers of 3DtK named their secret agent Ethan Runner. They also made him a Secret Service agent, because apparently since the 2003 move of the Secret Service from the Department of the Treasury over to the Department of Homeland Security, they've quickly become involved in black ops (since the trailer mentions working for "the agency", usually meaning CIA, I'm willing to give the movie a pass on this one and say the summary on IMDb and Wikipedia is incorrect). Runner is a retiring agent, looking to - what else? - reconnect with his daughter and estranged wife. Unfortunately for him, soon after retiring, he falls deathly ill and the only way he can be saved is through an experimental drug the agency offers him, provided he completes another mission for them (anyone want to take 2:1 odds his illness was given to him by the agency when he retired, and the last part of the movie will be him fighting his own handlers?). The rest of the movie will then presumably be him trying to complete the mission without his daughter figuring out what he does.
His boss in all this is Agent Vivi played by Amber Heard, who appears to be making the interesting choice of playing her secret agent as a disinterested, vapid, bleached blonde who doesn't understand the benefit to clandestine affairs of blending in. Hailee Steinfeld (of True Grit fame) plays his daughter Zoey and Connie Nielson rounds out the cast as his wife (who seems to have a small part in the trailer, but I bet she re-enters at the end, given Nielson's stature). McG directs from a script written by Luc Besson, who also wrote and produced Taken. It speaks to Hollywood's growing respect for their customers that they don't push these credentials anywhere in the trailer. Not too long ago, "From the Director of Charlie's Angels and Terminator: Salvation, and the Writer of Taken and The Transporter" would've appeared quite prominently. Now they realize those aren't exactly getting anyone to buy in on a project. Still there are some promising signs that point towards this not just being "Taken with Costner". The movie seems to have at least a slight awareness of how ridiculous it is, with a bit more of Besson's Fifth Element-style sense of humor thrown in, although based on the bits from the trailer, I'm not sure how well it will work. The action certainly seems convincing enough, but you knew that if nothing else, that's what McG brings to the table. The only problem is, even if the movie pulls off all its disparate elements, it's still going to feel, on some level, like more of the same, so the ceiling is pretty much capped at 3.5 stars, which is still a respectably enjoyable, if not memorable movie.
Of course, the worst case scenario is all the apprehension the trailer gives you is well-founded. Costner is ill-suited at this age to portray an action star (it's easiest to spot when their characters run), Amber Heard is completely out of her depth, the inevitable double-cross by his own people is revealed with neither flair nor style, and it's a movie you have no problem forgetting 15 minutes after it's over. If you need an example, look no further than Besson's own Lockout, a movie with a flashy trailer that ultimately fizzled. I can't believe I'm saying this, since Costner has never had stellar project selection skills, but I'm setting the floor at a star just because I think he's picking his spots a little more carefully this late in his career. He realizes he won't get another shot at a full-blown comeback, and I don't think he'd completely throw it away. Would he?