SURVIVOR (2015)

Genre: Action/Thriller
Director: James McTeigue
Cast: Milla Jovovich, Pierce Brosnan, SDylan McDermott, Angela Bassett, Robert Forster
Runtime: 1 hr 36 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Violence & Brief Coarse Language) 
Released By: Golden Village Pictures
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 9 July 2015

Synopsis: A Foreign Service Officer in London tries to prevent a terrorist attack set in New York, but is forced to go on the run after she is framed for crimes she didn't commit.

Movie Review:

Despite its A-list pedigree, the espionage thriller ‘Survivor’ is far, far away from genre standards like the Jason Bourne trilogy or even any of the recent James Bond films. Yes, even though its lead actor was the face of the latter for a good many years, not even Pierce Brosnan can inject credibility into this spy-terrorist-evil plot that requires a complete suspension of disbelief. That’s not to say that it isn’t enjoyable in a low-rent way though – which thanks to some muscular direction by ‘V for Vendetta’s’ James McTeigue, it is – but rather to say that it requires you to set your expectations just right, in order to appreciate its cruder, baser pleasures.

In a break with tradition, Brosnan plays the baddie here, a professional assassin codenamed ‘The Watchmaker’, whose most recent assignment is to employ his sharpshooting skills to detonate a chemical bomb somewhere in New York. That same plan by his shadowy employers also involves smuggling five scientists into America, which is where Milla Jovovich’s embassy official Kate Abbott comes in. Dispatched from Washington to the U.S. embassy in London, Kate suspects these seemingly innocuous individuals of being up to no good, which only deepens when she finds out that her fellow colleague Bill (Robert Forster) had been involved in each one of their visa applications. 

But before Kate manages to confront Bill, the restaurant where she and the rest of her colleagues are gathered to celebrate his birthday is blown up by none other than the Watchmaker, with Kate emerging as the lone survivor (hence the title) after having stepped away to get his present. To make matters worse, the subsequent emergency rendezvous at Kensington Gardens goes awry when Kate kills Bill in an act of self-defence and is photographed by onlookers with camera phones. Not only does she end up on the run from the Watchmaker, Kate also is forced to flee from her own fellow operatives, who think she is responsible for both the bombing as well as Bill’s death. 

And so as narrative convention dictates, Kate goes rogue, as she attempts to stop the Watchmaker and his cohorts from executing their heinous plan while proving her innocence to a not-so sympathetic Ambassador (Angela Bassett in a thankless role), with the help of her loyal boss (Dylan McDermott in a mirthless role) and IT expert (Frances De La Tour, yet another actress in a thankless role). It’s a well-worn setup, and first-time screenwriter Philip Shelby’s script doesn’t stray far from formula, but McTeigue executes the cat-and-mouse sequences with flair and brio, including a thrilling three-way chase through St Pancreas station and its adjoining underground rail tunnels.

No doubt benefitting from McTeigue’s previous filming experience in London, the first two acts set in and around the city are gripping in no small measure due to adroit location work. The last act however stands in stark contrast, let down by a ludicrous build-up even to anyone who has never been to the countdown party at Times Square on New Year’s Eve. What used to be brisk becomes utterly harried, especially as the perpetrators seem to be able to smuggle in a whole truck filled with explosive gas into the heart of Times Square by simply waving a sheaf of papers at a random street cop. The eventual showdown between Kate and the Watchmaker is also disappointingly anti-climactic, dashing any hope of a suitably exhilarating finish to make up for the preposterous chain of events in the Big Apple.

Indeed, there are glaring logic gaps not just in Shelby’s script but also in McTeigue’s filming, which distracts from an otherwise tense, briskly paced hour-and-a-half of pure escapism. Though it is deadly serious, there is no doubt just how plausible (or should we say, implausible) this spy drama really is – and no, like we said at the start, the top-notch ensemble doesn’t make it any more credible. That doesn’t mean it isn’t watchable though; oh yes, if you enter without prejudice, and perhaps even expectation, you’ll find this by-the-numbers thriller reasonably engaging and even surprisingly gripping.

Movie Rating:

(As formulaic as spy thrillers come, 'Survivor' barely overcomes some ludicrous plotting with a breakneck pace and well-executed chase sequences)

Review by Gabriel Chong