Following the unexpected success of Taken, Luc Besson’s EuropCorp instantly dived headfirst into churning out as many mid-budget action movies with middle-aged stars as possible, with Kevin Costner getting in on the act when 3 Days to Kill came to theaters in February 2014.
Almost the very definition of workmanlike, any potential in the premise was squandered through a terrible script and typically uninspiring direction from McG, with everyone involved opting to go through the motions. Costner’s veteran hitman gets drawn into the standard “one last job” by Amber Heard’s shady government operative, but there’s naturally a catch.
You see, the elder statesman of assassination is running out of time to live, but he accepts the job on the condition that he’s provided an experimental and potentially life-saving drug that would give him the time he needs to reconnect with his estranged ex-wife and distant teenage daughter.
Cue much running, jumping, shooting, punching, stabbing, and vehicular mayhem, with 3 Days to Kill doing very little to elevate itself above middle-of-the-road territory. Reviews were lukewarm eight years ago, and it’s not as if the film has undergone some sort of unexpectedly widespread reappraisal, but it has nonetheless been tearing it up on Paramount Plus.
As per FlixPatrol, 3 Days to Kill can be found as the unlucky 13th most-watched title on the platform’s worldwide rankings, with subscribers in Scandinavia becoming particularly enamored with a run-of-the-mill genre flick that doesn’t bring a shred of originality to the table, although there may be other reasons for its newfound lease of life.