Criminal

Plot synopsis:
The film opens with Jericho Stewart (Kevin Costner) standing on a beach. His voice-over states that "they" thought they knew what they were getting when they got inside his head, but they were wrong. He promises that anyone who hurts him will get hurt worse. A van pulls up behind Jericho, and a man steps out. Jericho turns to face him.We jump to a while back in London, where CIA agent Bill Pope (Ryan Reynolds) stops in a shop to pick up a duffle bag full of money. Bill takes time to call his wife Jill (Gal Gadot) back home. The two have a daughter, Emma (Lara Decaro). Bill is being observed by his superior Quaker Wells (Gary Oldman) and fellow agents Marta Lynch (Alice Eve), Esteban Ruiza (Amaury Nolasco), and Pete Greensleeves (Scott Adkins). Bill is knowingly pursued by anarchist Xavier Heimdahl (Jordi Molla). His right-hand woman Elsa Mueller (Antje Traue) follows Bill as he hops into a cab. Elsa and other villains catch the cab and shoot the driver before capturing Bill.Bill is taken to an abandoned building and is tortured by Heimdahl with electrical cables to give up information on Jan Stroop, aka The Dutchman (Michael Pitt), a hacker that has created a wormhole that would allow Heimdahl to bypass computer codes and infiltrate central governments. Bill tells Heimdahl "fuck you", which Heimdahl respects, but also gets Bill a cable to his mouth, and he is electrocuted to death. After Heimdahl and Elsa leave, other CIA agents find Bill's body and inform Wells that he is dead.The CIA gets in touch with Dr. Franks (Tommy Lee Jones), who has been working on a memory program that places the memories of the deceased in the head of a living specimen. The plan is to put Bill's memories in someone's head to locate Stroop, as he was trying to sell his program to the CIA. They decide on using Jericho, who is known as a remorseless killer with no emotional development that resulted from a childhood incident in which Jericho states that his father threw him out of a moving car and damaged his frontal lobe.We see an interview between Heimdahl and Piers Morgan in which Morgan asks Heimdahl his intentions. Heimdahl states that he thinks the world would be better off without governments, and thus he plans to take them all down.Jericho is taken out of prison for the procedure to begin. Bill's memories go into his head, but the procedure nearly kills Jericho. Later, Wells and the other agents view a video message from Stroop, who says he will give the CIA his program in exchange for protection and money, as he had originally been working with Heimdahl, but once Stroop changed his mind, Heimdahl got furious and is after him now. Stroop is then seen calling the Pope home to ask for Bill, but Jill informs Stroop that her husband is dead.After the memory transplant succeeds, Jericho is being transferred by two agents, but he uses a makeshift hook to cut one of the agents and lead to a crash that results in him escaping. He has the cars blow up to make it look like he died.Jericho makes it into town and steals some food and beats up some men to take their van. He then heads over to the Pope house to find the bag of money. He ties Jill up in her bed. All the while, he begins to see some of Bill's memories, most of them involving his time with Jill, but also a vision of the money bag being hidden behind a shelf of George Orwell books. Jericho goes back to the room and unties Jill. He then gets in touch with Ruiza through the home phone, claiming Emma may have hit a button again. Jericho then flees the house.We see another video of Stroop stating his plans to sell his program to the Russians now out of fear that the CIA has betrayed him, and the CIA has roughly nine hours to respond to Stroop's deadline.Back on the streets, Jericho continues seeing Bill's memories, and he is starting to gain Bill's personality and skills while jumping between that and his natural self. Jericho tries to get himself a drink and orders it in French, mistaking it for Spanish, and one man corrects him before calling him a motherfucker, leading to Jericho breaking the man's nose. He then heads to the library and logs into the computer with Bill's codes, which the CIA discovers.Jericho finds Franks to help him get medication for his head hurting as a result of Bill's memories overwhelming him. It means that Jericho is now able to develop emotions. Their whole encounter is monitored by the CIA. As he leaves the pharmacy, Jericho is taken by several agents. Elsa, who was watching, follows.After a tense encounter at the headquarters between Jericho and the other agents, Jericho is being escorted by Wells to another location. Heimdahl creates a distraction by making it look like Stroop was spotted at an airport. This leads to Elsa and Heimdahl's other goons to find the agents and start shooting at them, resulting in the deaths of some agents including Lynch. Jericho escapes the shootout by driving off a bridge.Jericho returns to the Pope house. Jill points a gun at him this time, but Jericho is less hostile this time, and he tells her a memory only she and Bill would know to prove he has Bill's memories. It's about how their first car smelled like fish and chips, and the exhaust blew out a week later. Jill later sees Jericho outside with Emma as they bury one of her toys. Despite being worried at first, Jill realizes that Jericho would not hurt her or Emma. She lets him stay the night.The next morning, Jericho discovers that the money bag is hidden behind a bookshelf in the library at the university where Jill works. He heads there to retrieve it, leaving Elsa to break into the Pope house and abduct Jill and Emma, while Heimdahl gets Jericho. Wells and his team learn of this, and they head out after them, while the Russians have their own team out looking for Stroop.Both the CIA and the Russian team circle the university as Heimdahl's goons take Jericho away. He then remembers that Stroop is hiding in Jill's office. Elsa forces Jericho to guide her to the office. They pass by the lab, which lets Jericho make a bomb to get away from Elsa. He rushes to Jill's office to find Stroop and talk to him, but Elsa finds them. She shoots Stroop in the head and nearly takes the drive with his program until Jericho emerges and beats her to death with a lamp.Jericho races to the airfield where Heimdahl is planning to escape with Jill and Emma, despite Wells telling Jericho it's too risky and that lives are at stake. Jericho makes it there and reluctantly hands the drive to Heimdahl so he can let Emma go. Heimdahl shoots Jericho and makes his escape on his plane right before Wells and his men arrive. As Wells yells at Jericho for what he's done, Jericho reveals that he had Stroop reprogram the wormhole so that anything launched from that program would hit wherever the launch was made. Therefore, the missile that Heimdahl launched to hit the airfield ends up flying back toward his plane, blowing him (and the wormhole) up.A while later, we see Jericho at the beach he was standing at in the beginning. He is met by Jill and Emma, along with Wells and Franks, and some other agents. Jill and Emma know that Bill lives on in Jericho's head. Wells then tells Franks that he is going to offer Jericho a job.

Tags: comedy, suspenseful, neo noir, murder, violence, flashback, revenge

Review:
This film has been saved by its stars: Ryan Reynolds first and Kevin Costner few minutes later will make you forget most of plot's unbelievable logical holes, awful editing (what's Alice Eve's end?), repetitive scenes and complete lack of bad guy's motive (Jordi Mollà).And Tommy Lee Jones, Gal Gadot, Gary Oldman and Michael Pitt (Alice Eve here is little more than an extra) strive to fill with workmanship and dignity their otherwise gaunt supporting roles.They all succeed in saving the day and in the end you won't fall asleep or leave theater in contempt.
The film stars Kevin Costner, Gary Oldman and Tommy Lee Jones in their second collaboration following the 1991 film JFK.The memories and skills of deceased CIA agent Bill Pope are implanted into gruff convict, Jericho Stewart, in order to finish an incomplete mission.Handsome Actor Ryan Reynolds plays the role of a CIA agent in London, he struggles to come back to to his home base.
When the terrorists come closer to the CIA agent a series of breathtaking incidents will happen and the dramatic climax comes and will definitely please all the audience who love Great Action Movies..
Against his will, Jericho Stewart (Kevin Costner) is transferred to CIA headwaters and given the agents memories, but will he become the good agent and help save the world, or will he return to his murderous ways?
Yes, the story is a bit complicated, but it is fairly easy to follow, and Kevin Costner gives his best performance in at least a decade, making Criminal well worth the price of admission..
Kevin Costner did a great job of transitioning from a bad guy to a guy that was just learning to have emotions love the ending of the movie.
The true is the movie story and actions worked pretty good and I just loved it.
Bad people usually look the most normal.Kevin shows us what it would look like if a violent, uncontrollable criminal would have the memories of a decent man implanted, eventually he can't help but to start having feelings and doing good.
Unfortunately, co- screenwriters Douglas Cook and David Weisberg decided not to explore those themes, preferring to employ clichés recycled from uncountable action films, including the confusing search of a generic terrorist, the intervention of a magical hacker controlling everything from his laptop and the obligatory innocent persons under a mortal danger (including a girl who automatically considers the main character her best friend...
On the positive side, Kevin Costner, Gary Oldman, Tommy Lee Jones and Jordi Mollà managed to bring decent performances despite having had to work with such poorly written characters.
I had this film on my mind to watch it definitely as soon as it comes out when I watched the first trailer released last year & to be very Frank in this I should say that neither Ariel, Ryan nor Kevin disappoints in getting same old stuff on the screen.
The script is a bit lacklustre and uses swearing for effect rather than proper character development, although this isn't totally lacking, as Stewart tries to connect with Pope's family, which develops the story and characters quite nicely.The action sequences provide nothing new or inventive to the genre, but they are well done and they always feel like a payoff for decent storytelling.
The CIA has Pope's memories installed into Jericho (Kevin Costner) a really bad guy, animal-like with no empathy for anyone.
We don't like seeing Jericho do the mean things he does, but we have to get over that and see (and hope) if Pope's memories take hold as Doctor Francis (Tommy Lee Jones) insists they will.
In order to appreciate this movie we need to get over seeing Kevin Costner as a bad guy and hope beyond hope that he eventually turns into a good guy.
You need to know it's bloody and violent, but if you are OK with that, the story, acting, and action really rock.The cast is a veteran crew, starring Kevin Costner as Jerico, an absolute psycho who is in prison because he has no way to differentiate right from wrong due so some brain injury from his childhood.
Let's not forget his wife, played wonderfully by Gal Gadot, the new Wonder Woman.Memory transference is the key to this movie, but what makes this movie great is Costner.
What an awesome portrayal of this change by Costner.What is also great is that this movie actually makes you root for a bad guy who is becoming a good guy to return to be a bad guy, because he's fighting other bad guys, almost kind of like Dr Jekyl/Mr Hide, but smoother.Gary Oldman plays a key role too as the leader of the military or govt that is trying to save the world, all hinging on this guy with a hole in his head, a real psycho.There's one scene that is straight out of Silence of the Lambs.
In some ways, Jerico plays on Hannibal Lector a bit from the totally psycho side at the start, butthen as someone who is actually becoming a somewhat reasonable man as he learns more about Gal Gadot and her husband Reynolds.Criminal is not for the faint of heart.
But Costner just kills this role with such great acting, that I think you will love this movie.
I saw that this movie had a good cast so I gave it a shot.Lets just say that I enjoyed this movie so much that I watched it again on the proper screen after my flight for a better experience.Below are the main reasons I gave this movie 9/10The cast: Gary Oldman, Keven Costner, Tommy Lee Jones should I say more?The plot: Simple, easy to follow and super entertaining.
But most importantly as Jerico (Kevin Costner) develops the memory of Bill Pope (Ryan Reynolds) I was kept on my seat because I had no idea what Jerico was going to do next and how his character will slowly change as the film progresses.
Kevin Costner, Ryan Reynolds, these guys deserves more, they totally deserve an Oscar award candidly.I absolutely love this movie.
Lara Decaro is the Heart of the Movie as a Little Girl who Warms up the Films Cold Premise.Overall, Criminally Underrated Mainstream Movie that makes up for its Shallowness and Clichés with a Rapid Pace, Good Thrill Kills, and Costner's Commitment to the Role.
Kevin Costner, Tommy Lee Jones, Gary Oldman, Ryan Reynolds - where can a film maker go wrong?Well I guess it's the premise of putting one man's memories into another man's head.
Kevin Costner is well cast as a dispensable criminal used in an experiment to take the thoughts of a dead CIA agent, Bill Pope (Ryan Reynolds), in order to relay his thoughts to the authorities.
All does not go to plan however, and it's a chase for the CIA to get the information before the crime lord Xavier Heimdahl (Jordi Mollà) does.Tommy Lee Jones makes a good job of playing Dr Franks and it's nice to see Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman) as Pope's widow.The movie takes a little while to really get going but stick with it, although a bit clichéd, there is plenty of action and it's a descent watch..
The plot is very original and interesting and really makes you think about the future possibilities of science and medicine....the actors are all great and the characters are well thought and presented.I think Kevin Costner is absolutely great in this movie, his acting really makes the character believable and real, a different role for him this time but he is still very good at presenting a redeemed psychopath....the movie is shot in London, which is great as it a beautiful city and it is a perfect background for this very fast action movie....overall, I think this movie is really good and well made and it certainly provides good entertainment for a nice afternoon out.
When he gets mysteriously ambushed and killed, an experimental procedure performed by Dr. Franks (Tommy Lee Jones) is used to transfer his memories into dangerous ex-convict Jericho Stewart (Kevin Costner).
This is a noisy but very fast paced action film with a brain – the script makes sense (memory transplantation as a means of saving the experience of a deceased CIA operative).
I normally never write reviews unless I find some really disgusting movies.There is nothing to talk about acting, Kevin Costner was at best average.
In fact, in my opinion it starts off pretty terrible, incorporating all the clichés of mediocre fast-paced action / spy flicks down to agents doing stuff on high-tech computer screens, people getting tracked and scene shifts with the typical modern "action movie font" introducing cities and characters.However, it gets much better once Jerico (Costner) enters the picture.
This would be the result.Kevin Costner, whom I really didn't like before this movie, does an absolutely wonderful job as the bad ass protagonist.Gary Oldman is for some reason overacting and plays the role as a theater role.Jordi Mollà is the antagonist, and like Oldman, he is over acting.But still, it's a rock and roll adventure like they used to make them.
"You hurt meI hurt you worse." Jericho (Kevin Costner) Costner is the titular bad guy, who is implanted with the memory of deceased CIA operative, Bill Pope (Ryan Gosling—don't expect to see much of him as he dies early), and spends the better part of Criminal dealing with emotions new to him.
And the supporting cast is first-rate.While this thriller is rife with electronics ( the bad guy has hacked into the USA's military computer system), the humanism is what strikes me as satisfying: not just Jericho's assuming Pope's affections but also Gary Oldman's CIA officer, Quaker Wells, sliding into a rage and Jordi Malla's head terrorist, Xavier, just being cool.
I also must acknowledge that the growing affection between Jericho and Pope's widow, Jill (Gal Gadot), is believable if not just as improbable as their planting her deceased husband's thoughts and memories in Jericho.In thrillers like Criminal, we've seen before the action sequences with vulnerable helicopters, racing cop cars, and ominous computer screens.
If you are looking to watch an entertainment action/suspense movie, you should give this one a shot, specially these days where the action flicks are so terrible.Good cast with fine acting (at least for this type of movie) A little bit of sci-fi, a little bit of espionage, and of course a little bit out there, but you will pass it through.Plus: Kevin Costner performance is actually pretty good in this one Against: The character and performance of the bad guy is just lame.
This is not a masterpiece and isn't in my top 5 Costner movies but this is very entertaining, fast paced and one that I could watch a few times I think.
I like the plot, the characters are amazing, the story line was good and Kevin Costner maybe with the greatest performance of his career.
"Bill Pope (Ryan Reynolds) is a CIA agent on a mission in London tracking down a shadowy hacker nicknamed "The Dutchman." When he gets mysteriously ambushed and killed, an experimental procedure is used to transfer his memories into dangerous ex-convict Jericho Stewart (Kevin Costner).
It's decided by the late Bill Pope's boss Quaker Wells, Gary Oldman, to get Reynold's brain, that's being kept on ice,transferred into criminal Jerico Stewart's, Kevin Costner, head so he can retrieve all the memories he had dealing with Helmdahl's plan to start WWIII.
The film reprises three A grade actors Kevin Costner, Tommy Lee Jones and Gary Oldman who last worked together in the film JFK(1991).
Criminal review Enjoyed this film, OK it's impossible to transfer memories and the way Ryan Reynolds wife suddenly believes is too far fetched but otherwise one of the best films Kevin Costner has made in ages.
Good story, good action even if Kevin is getting on in years, only real let down was the police chief played by Gary Oldman, but Tommy Lee Jones, wow!
I don't want to spoil the story but if you liked Face Off, if you like a good thriller with some raw action than this is the movie to watch...
Great to see Kevin Costner back in the scene, the script, the play and the whole entire thing is a movie worth making.
It starts off with immediate action, then the suspense and drama continues, it's very hard to follow the amount of movies in which follow a similar plot, seen them all haven't then spent 5 minutes working out a way so I can leave a great review.
The plot to this film is way out there, I am normally on board for movies that have a wild element such as this, but this one just seemed...I don't know, odd.Going into the film I had extremely high hopes based on the all-star cast but was kind of let down.
Its really a good movie, Mr.Costner did a great job playing Jerico, a criminal who can't feel either love or hate, then gets the memories of a dead CIA agent to finish an assignment.
It's too bad that the script by Douglas Cook and David Weisberg (who co-wrote 1996's "The Rock") and the direction by Ariel Vromen (who made 2012's criminally underseen contract killer biopic "Iceman", with Michael Shannon) didn't make this entire film as smart as its beginning.When Bill Pope (Ryan Reynolds), an American CIA agent stationed in London is killed, Quaker Wells (Gary Oldman), the CIA's London Station Chief, goes into a bit of a panic.
It's a good thing that the movie's title character, a dangerous, completely amoral prison inmate named Jericho Stewart (Kevin Costner), has an underdeveloped brain that would make the perfect "clean slate" on which to transfer Pope's memories!
The memories and skills of a CIA agent (Ryan Reynolds) are implanted into the brain of a dangerous criminal (Kevin Costner) in order to stop an international terrorist.
I liked this movie but didn't love it.Reynolds' character Bill Pope is more than a cameo but less than a supporting role.
Gil Gadot who plays the wife of Bill Pope is underutilized but performs well and I hope to see her in more than just Wonder Woman's uniform.In a landscape filled with epic comic book films which I tend to enjoy, a nice character driven action drama like Criminal is a nice alternative..
It may please some genre fans with its cool premise, but they'll likely be left with a film of no real substance or personality.Kevin Costner stars as Jericho Stewart, a death-row inmate who is forced to undergo a surgery to recover the memories of Bill Pope, played by Ryan Reynolds, a CIA agent with important and dangerous information regarding a mission.
Overall, the best way I can describe the feeling I had watching this film was awkward.+Good effort from the cast-Wasn't invested in the characters-Gratuitous violence5.7/10.
right up until Oldman would come on screen and throw a tantrum, and perform like a C-list actor.Nevertheless, the movie rises to the level of watchable based on the performance of Kevin Costner, who did a pretty good job with it, and it was not an easy character to pull off.Tommy Lee Jones was good, as was Gal Gadot and the rest of the cast.Overall, this movie is probably worth watching if you don't have anything else to do..
After seeing the Kevin Costner starring film CRIMINAL, I set out to find out more about Director Ariel Vromen and Writers Douglas Cook and David Weisberg.So I can make sure that I NEVER sit through another movie of their's again.CRIMINAL has an interesting premise, the memories of a dying spy are implanted in the brain of a criminal, slowly, those two minds battle, who will emerge?
They even enlisted a pretty good list of actors - Kevin Costner, Gary Oldman and Tommy Lee Jones.
I saw it, and immediately came to mind my mind another movie Face/Off. This one the story is somewhat similar, to frustrate an extortion plot, an agent dies and his memories, secrets, and as well his skills are implanted into someone else, a casted away death-row criminal; all they hoped was for this man to finish the dead agent mission Yes, Ryan Reynolds again, I think he does have some kind of difficult in choosing his roles, you could say it again, a talent that slowly is being wasted On the other hand, Kevin Costner tries really hard to play a badass criminal, but the result was something like his role in Robin Hood, goodness grace, give me a brake Anyhow, overall it isn't such a bad movie, like I said, pure entertainment, with a good taste of location, and a very well elaborated shots sequence.
'CRIMINAL': Four Stars (Out of Five)Action-thriller flick, starring Kevin Costner as a dangerous convict; implanted with a dead CIA agent's memories, in order to finish an important mission.
The film costars an impressive all-star cast; including Gal Gadot, Gary Oldman, Tommy Lee Jones, Jordi Molla, Antje Traue, Alice Eve, Michael Pitt, Scott Adkins and Ryan Reynolds (in a special extended cameo).
you will see that in the entertaining, action and suspense movie (criminal) starring Kevin Costner, Gary Oldman, Gal Gadot, it's enjoyable despite that the movie isn't ideal you will experiment a feeling of thrilling and suspense through the movie, one of the best scenes in the movie was when Jericho goes to Bill's house and starts to remember his family, good action especially near the end.
the story doesn't develop in a very interesting manner, but it's still good and suspenseful i think there is so little triteness but not much exciting tone, okay music, good convincing acting in the end criminal may not be a great movie but it is absolutely entertaining especially if you like action movies final rating 7/10.
Jericho, the protagonist (played by Kevin Costner in a comeback performance), is an unlikely guy, but its interesting to watch him fight between memories as well as fight the villains behind him.