Worth: $14.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Gerard Butler, Travis Fimmel, Ali Fazal, Navid Negahban, Bahador Foladi, Nina Toussaint-White
Intro:
… delivers on the action.
“A violent act must be made by another.” A line coldly delivered by an Afghan warlord to a grieving father who has lost his son. It’s a vengeful line that perfectly captures the world of gritty action thriller, Kandahar.
An undercover CIA operative (Gerard Butler) is exposed after his involvement in a successful strike against an Iranian nuclear research facility. Chased down by Iranian and Pakistani security forces, he must fight his way out of enemy lines to an extraction point in the city of Kandahar, Afghanistan.
The third collaboration between Gerard Butler and director Ric Roman Waugh (following Angel Has Fallen and the excellent Greenland), Kandahar has a clean blockbuster sheen, dramatic stakes that are not complicated to follow, and most importantly, it delivers on the action.
There’s a standout sequence involving a helicopter in the desert at night pinning down Butler’s operative and his translator (Navid Negahban). Borrowing heavily from the gritty style of Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker) and even a little Michael Mann (Heat), it’s a wonderfully executed scene with palpable tension and a rare occasion in a modern action movie where one can see exactly what is happening in a night-time operation.
It does take a while to get to these moments though, but there is definitely money being thrown at this production, with fantastic drone shots of arid landscapes, pyrotechnics that would make Michael Bay sit up, and expert stunt-work that will please even the most hardcore Mission: Impossible fan.
It’s impressive just how quickly Hollywood is able to turn out big-budget action movies related to real-world events; in this case, the controversial withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan in May 2021, also the backdrop for Guy Ritchie’s latest, The Covenant, which bypassed cinema release and went straight to Prime Video like Kandahar.
The conflict that acts as the background to Kandahar has left the region’s political climate shaken, but thankfully, the film explores it respectfully. It calls into question the morality of all sides and though it makes sense to side more with Gerard Butler, it even leaves this allegiance up to the viewer. That said, Kandahar won’t rock the political boat quite like Zero Dark Thirty.
Acting-wise, the standout performances are left for supporting cast members Navid Negahban as Butler’s Afghan translator, and Bollywood star Ali Fazal as an elusive Pakistani agent. Negahban is the heart of the film and viewers will likely connect more with his character over Butler’s dry action hero. As for Fazal, he eats up all his (limited) screen-time with such bravado and charisma, it’s a shame that he is not used more in the movie.
Which brings up the biggest issue with the film. Despite Kandahar being an easy story to follow, the film carries too many plotlines and characters on its back. Many are dropped for most of the film, only to be brought up later, just as a reminder of their stakes. The Iranian government and British journalist storylines especially feel underdeveloped.
Kandahar does not mess with the conventions of gritty action film, but most impressively, features attention to detail that you won’t find in the standard straight to streaming fare.
