Kandahar

Kandahar
Starring Gerard Butler, Navid Negahban, Ali Fazal, Travis Fimmel
Directed by Ric Roman Waugh

Gerard Butler is an actor who's typecast into the generic role of being a one-man army going against countless nameless killers and always finding a way to survive, and now it seems that he's accomplished something a little different. Back in 2013, he starred in the film "Olympus Has Fallen" where he's tasked with protecting the President from a terrorist attack at the White House, and in that same year the movie "White House Down" was released where Channing Tatum had to protect the President from - you guessed it - a terrorist attack at the White House. It's not that often two films that basically center on the same theme are released in the same year, but Butler did it again in 2023 with the release of "Kandahar," about an undercover CIA operative who must find his way out of enemy territory in Afghanistan with the help of his translator. If this sounds sort of familiar, it's because earlier in 2023 director Guy Ritchie released "The Covenent" which was about a U.S. fighter who's caught behind enemy lines and must make it to safety with the help of...say it with me...his translator. While it's not out of the question for this to happen, to paraphrase the great Dr. Doofenshmirtz: "wow, if I had a nickel for every time Gerard Butler appears in the same type of movie as another movie in the same year, I'd have two nickels...which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice." If given the option between the two, I'd ask a question: do you want to fall asleep or watch a fast paced, exciting, well-written, well-acted action thriller? If you answer with the later, go with "The Covenant," but if you want to fall asleep faster than taking an Ambien, go with "Kandahar."

Tom Harris (Gerard Butler) is an undercover CIA agent working in Afghanistan and Iran helping the U.S. government take down their nuclear capabilities, but after one successful explosion occurs, his cover gets blown due to an intelligence leak and must escape enemy territory with his translator (NAvid Negahban), traveling 400 miles through the desert to an extraction point in Kandahar. Along the way they're hunted by mercenaries, police, and rogue tribes who's only loyalty is to whoever pays them the most at the moment.

The Good:
"Kandahar" is based on a true story from the leaked files of Edward Snowden, taken from screenwriter Mitchell LaFortune's own account of what happened when he was in Afghanistan when the files leaked. There's some great explosions to be had, and a decent night battle involving a helicopter and viewing through night vision goggles that help add a tense mood to the proceedings.

The translator, who's character name I cannot remember, is played by veteran actor Navid Negahban, and he absolutely steals the show from Butler's shadow. His character has the biggest development in that his son was murdered by a gang of mercenaries, and he has his own ulterior motives for helping Tom to safety - most namely rescuing his wife's sister who was taken captive. Negahban commands the screen and gives a compelling performance, especially when he comes face-to-face with the man who killed his son. It's heartbreaking and powerful, and the real saving grace of this film.



The Bad:
For a film about a man fighting impossible odds to get home, you'd expect "Kandahar" to be an edge-of-your-seat thriller - but instead I found myself dozing off several times, and bemoaning the fact that it's two sloggish hours of severe boredom. None of the characters (save for the translator) are at all written well, and each of the performers (Butler included) seem to just sleepwalk through their performance in the name of a check.

Gerard Butler offers a one-dimensional performance as every stock character in this type of movie: a one-man killing machine who's the best at what he does, who's job has put a rift in his marriage, who's teenage daughter is about to graduate high school so he needs to get home as soon as possible, takes on one last mission, said mission goes array, must battle his way back home. He doesn't offer anything remotely emotional in his performance, and is completely forgettable.

Apart from the night vision helicopter action scene, the rest of the action - way too few and far between - are dull, insipid, lifeless, and devoid of anything remotely exciting. Maybe it's due to not caring about the characters, or just the bland way it's shot, but nothing really pops out as exceptional.

There's some weird choices the film makes in highlighting supporting characters who go nowhere. Ali Fazal plays a mercenary who thinks the Taliban is archaic and it's time for something new, as he hooks up with girls on Tinder and chases Tom and his translator throughout the desert. We don't really need to know any of this information about him, because it comes at the cost of at least thirty minutes that could've been cut and no one would've been the wiser. Likewise Bahador Foladi plays a police officer investigating the crime, and he's given a whole backstory with a longsuffering wife and child, which, again, goes nowhere.

There's some side stories that, much like the side characters, also go nowhere. A female reporter is kidnapped at the start of the film and you think maybe Butler's Tom Harris will break her out, they'll go on a desert chase and fall in love, or something like that - but she's not seen again until the very end of the film, where I said out loud, "wow, I forgot she existed!" The aforementioned mercenary and cop storylines also go nowhere, and the translator's task of finding his wife's sister also doesn't pan out in any substantial way. All of this could've been cut, making the film a more lean 90 minute story that could've been a bit more exciting.


The Verdict:
Meddling storylines, lackluster performances, and by-the-books storytelling makes "Kandahar" an extremely slow, tedious experience to sit through, but could be useful as a form of torture for some of America's enemies.

The Score: D