‘Criminal‘, Ariel Vromen‘s 2016 film is an interesting combination that, depending on the expectations and the mood of the viewers, can disappoint or be a pleasant surprise. It is a spy film based on a science-fiction idea that is not developed in depth, a rather violent action film that fits the B-Movie label. The cast brings together on screen a collection of well-known actors with fame in Hollywood or in the UK. All do their jobs in an exemplary manner, but the exclamation ‘what a waste of talent!’ was probably heard many times at the exit of the screening halls. The story is quite interesting, but the rules of films of this genre do not allow or allow time to add too much substance to the psychological profiles of the characters. The film, being well acted and impeccably made technically, manages to arouse and keep the interest of most viewers, but I failed to avoid a dose of regret for an artistic potential, less commercial but more interesting, which seemed insufficiently exploited .
‘Criminal‘ begins as an espionage action movie, with a by-the-book chase on the streets of London ending in the violent death of a CIA agent. Here starts the element of science fiction, as his memory is transplanted through an experimental process into the brain of Jericho Stewart (Kevin Costner), a murderer sentenced to life in prison, the kind of Hannibal Lecter. If the pretext seems thin, you can console yourself by learning that scientific experiences with the transfer of the memory of the dead and are quite advanced, although the transfer is made on other physical media than living persons brains. Returning to the film, the stakes of the procedure are not only a suitcase with a large sum of money, but also access to nuclear activation codes. In a short time, the inmate will be free on the streets of London, pursued by espionage agencies and criminal organizations, and in addition to full doubling of personality, with his criminal instincts overlapping the memories and feelings of the dead agent.
The formula works very well and the result is one of the B-movies that I was not at all sorry to see. Ariel Vromen shoots professionally, and the script follows all the rules of action movies. Kevin Costner has the opportunity to be cast in a complex and interesting role. He is an actor who in my opinion has received undeserved criticism, and perhaps this role is the beginning of a come-back, he succeeds well excepting slight exaggerations of physical pain. Tommy Lee Jones as the doctor who invented and leads the memory transfer and Gal Gadot as the wife of the murdered agent manage to make their roles credible and even memorable characters, with the little material at hand. I can’t say the same about Gary Oldman, the only one who deserves the ‘wasted acting talent’ cliché. Could this movie have said more? I believe so, the reason being that the doubling of the personality as a result of the memory transfer could have been written differently and developed in more depth. But this would probably have happened at the expense of the action part, and then the fans of the genre to which the film is targeted would have complained. I hope that at least these would be satisfied.