3 Days to Kill (2014)

A dying CIA agent trying to reconnect with his estranged daughter is offered an experimental drug that could save his life in exchange for one last assignment.

Director:

McG

Writers:

Adi Hasak (screenplay), Luc Besson (screenplay)

Stars:

Kevin Costner, Hailee Steinfeld, Connie Nielsen

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kevin Costner	...	Ethan Renner
Amber Heard	...	Vivi Delay
Hailee Steinfeld	...	Zooey Renner
Connie Nielsen	...	Christine Renner
Tómas Lemarquis	...	The Albino
Richard Sammel	...	The Wolf
Marc Andréoni	...	Mitat Yilmaz
Bruno Ricci	...	Guido
Jonas Bloquet	...	Hugh
Eriq Ebouaney	...	Jules
Joakhim Sigue	...	Abbate
Alison Valence	...	Sumia
Big John	...	Louis
Michaël Vander-Meiren	...	Jacques
Paolo Calia	...	JPG Salesman

Storyline

Dying of brain cancer, a dangerous international spy is determined to give up his high stakes life to finally build a closer relationship with his estranged wife and daughter, whom he's previously kept at arm's length to keep out of danger; but first, he must complete one last mission - even if it means juggling the two toughest assignments yet: hunt down the world's most ruthless terrorist and look after his teenage daughter for the first time in ten years while his wife is out of town.

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Plot Keywords:

spy | violence | leather dress | femme fatale | dirty bomb | 

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Taglines:

Husband. Father. Agent. Assassin. He's buying his life back one kill at a time.

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Genres:

Action | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, some sensuality and language

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA France Serbia

Language:

English French German Serbian

Release Date:

21 February 2014 (USA)

Also Known As:

3 días para matar

Filming Locations:

Paris, France

Box Office

Budget:

$28,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$12,242,218, 23 February 2014, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$30,697,999, 15 May 2014

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$52,597,999

Company Credits

Production Co:

Relativity Media,EuropaCorp,Aéroports de Paris

Technical Specs

Runtime:

117 min 123 min (Extended Edition)

Sound Mix:

SDDS Datasat Dolby Digital Dolby Atmos Dolby Surround 7.1

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The term "3 Days to Kill" is coined by Zooey (Hailee Steinfeld) during the breakfast cooking scene when telling her father how much time they have to spend together.

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Goofs

Ethan is diagnosed with a glioblastoma, a type of brain cancer, which in the plot has spread to his lungs. This is medically incorrect. Glioblastomas are aggressive and spread to other parts of the brain, but they don't metastasize outside of the brain.

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Quotes

[first lines]
CIA Employee: Mr. Director, this is Agent Vivien Delay.
CIA Employee: For the last ten years the Central Intelligence Agency has been after Wolfgang Braun.
Vivi Delay: The Wolf.
CIA Employee: As you know, we have no positive identification of what the Wolf looks like. What we do know is he's a former German national who sells atomic material to terrorists all over the world.
CIA Employee: Intelligence confirms that a transaction is to take place next week in Belgrade.
CIA Employee: [throws down pictures] The Wolf's number one man, the Albino, will be selling a ...
[...]

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Connections

Featured in Chelsea Lately: Episode #8.22 (2014)

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Soundtracks

Pursuit
Written by Mike Lévy (as Mike Levy)
Performed by Mike Lévy (as Gesaffelstein)
© 2013 Savoir Faire (Administered by EMI Music Publishing)
With Courtesy of EMI Music Publishing France (All rights reserved)
2013 Parlophone Music France
With Courtesy of Warner Music France, a Parlophone Division

User Reviews

Taken for a Ride

There's not much to recommend this film. Neither the acting, direction, script, music, or photography offer anything new to the genre, and in some cases, it is far below average. Among the actors, only 18 year old Hailee Steinfeld (she plays Costner's daughter) stands out. You'll remember her from "Enders Game" and "True Grit" and I thought this was her best performance to date. Costner has played this role so many times before he's obviously bored with it, and it doesn't even begin to approach his work in "The Bodyguard". Amber Heard is completely miscast, and even if she weren't, the dialog and the crazy costume changes would be difficult to overcome. Indeed Heard's costume changes are a metaphor for the film itself, which doesn't seem to know whether it is a comedy (in which case it fails), an action thriller (which is far too long and not too thrilling), a romance (without much spark by anyone), or just a plain family adventure (with too much violence).

Luc Besson provided the story and the screenplay. Besson is a gifted writer with such marvelous credits as "La Femme Nikita", "Leon" (aka "The Professional"), "The Fifth Element", and "Columbiana". He also wrote "Taken", "The Transporter", and "Kiss of the Dragon" which weren't as good as the first group, but still well above average. This film has elements from many of his previous works, but the stitching comes loose in this one. Most of Besson's best films he also directed, so perhaps the problem lies there. Or perhaps it lies with director McG who is primarily a TV director and producer. Indeed, the film's uneven tone was clearly one of the major problems with his "Chuck" series.

Give this one a miss. Apart from the many on location shots of Paris, there's not much to recommend it.