I found myself completely alone upon walking into the cinema for the 8 pm showing. However, a couple of minutes later, the audience size doubled.
Bill Murray goes to Afghanistan with a protégé for a USO tour, but she bails out with his passport and cash, and he ends up mixed up with arms smuggling and arms dealing, Willis' mercenary character, a tribal war, and discovers a young singer who he takes to Kabul to be on Afghan Idol, against the wishes and beliefs of her family and community.
First 30 minutes were funny, (which is where most of the trailer's footage comes from) and I wondered why the film had gotten such poor reviews, but after that first half hour, there are only scattered laughs, as the screenplay tries to cover many different bases, but is so contrived and convoluted and overly busy that it collapses under its own weight. .....
Willis has what amounts to a 15 - 20 minutes long cameo appearance, but it's his best performance in many years; he seemed to be awake and paying attention here, surprisingly, given his underwhelming performances in the past 12 or so years.
Violent twist at the end comes from out of nowhere, and obliterates what little humour remained. Film seems much longer than it really is, and it never climaxes so much as it just stops, with no resolution to any of its numerous plot lines.
Filmed in June and July 2014, but not released until October 2015; its delayed release shows just how little confidence anyone had in this one. If anyone cares, there is what appears to be an outtake shown during the closing credits.
Bill Murray goes to Afghanistan with a protégé for a USO tour, but she bails out with his passport and cash, and he ends up mixed up with arms smuggling and arms dealing, Willis' mercenary character, a tribal war, and discovers a young singer who he takes to Kabul to be on Afghan Idol, against the wishes and beliefs of her family and community.
First 30 minutes were funny, (which is where most of the trailer's footage comes from) and I wondered why the film had gotten such poor reviews, but after that first half hour, there are only scattered laughs, as the screenplay tries to cover many different bases, but is so contrived and convoluted and overly busy that it collapses under its own weight. .....
Willis has what amounts to a 15 - 20 minutes long cameo appearance, but it's his best performance in many years; he seemed to be awake and paying attention here, surprisingly, given his underwhelming performances in the past 12 or so years.
Violent twist at the end comes from out of nowhere, and obliterates what little humour remained. Film seems much longer than it really is, and it never climaxes so much as it just stops, with no resolution to any of its numerous plot lines.
Filmed in June and July 2014, but not released until October 2015; its delayed release shows just how little confidence anyone had in this one. If anyone cares, there is what appears to be an outtake shown during the closing credits.