March 23, 2022
Because of certain drugs he had used for his knee injury, James Harper (Chris Pine) had been discharged from the US Army Special Forces, leaving him without his benefits, including pension and healthcare. Desperate for a source of income to support his wife and young son, he agreed to join his best friend Mike (Ben Foster) to work as a contractor for an organization run by a fellow army veteran Rusty Jennings (Kiefer Sutherland).
Jennings' group handled missions that threatened national security. Harper's first deep black mission took him to Berlin, Germany to spy on then go after the data files of virology research scientist Salim Mohamed Mohsin (Fares Fares) said to be a Category A bioterrorist. However, when their mission did not go according to plan so Harper had to go on the run, trying to survive the multiple attempts against his life as he made his way back to the States.
The plot of this tale of an ex-military man was quite formulaic, something you've seen any number of big name actors have done during their lean months strictly for the paycheck. The first thirty minutes introduced us into the life of James Harper as he tried to deal with his unexpected discharge from the army by accepting this job. Once things go awry, you sort of already knew how this thing was going to end, according to the usual plot these films took.
Chris Pine had a screen presence that dominated everyone else on that screen, a true movie star. As soldier James Harper, he always smart and snappy, standing tall and walking tall the whole time. He looked and moved credibly as a soldier in his fights and other action scenes. His dramatic scenes were also quite good, especially in that climactic confrontation scene, about 10 minutes before the movie ended.
What set this film apart were those flashback scenes depicting Harper's physical abuse as a young boy under the alpha-male toxic machismo of his father. This gave James a troubling backstory that he never wanted to happen between him and his own son Jack. Otherwise, everything else was quite predictable, Ben Foster and Kiefer Sutherland have even done characters like the ones they played in this one. 5/10.
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