A stellar cast is largely wasted in this routine post-9/11 espionage thriller. Milla Jovovich is Kate Abbott, head of visa security at the U.S. embassy in London, whose suspicion is piqued by an application from a Romanian expatriate with expertise in exotic explosives. It turns out that the guy is in league with a shadowy cabal planning a terrorist act on U.S. soil—a group of conspirators who enlist a stone-faced killer known as the Watchmaker (Pierce Brosnan) to deal with troublesome Abbott. Although his assassination attempt fails, Abbott becomes a murder suspect herself and is therefore pursued not only by the Watchman but also by the British police and U.S. intelligence agents. What follows is a long chase, mostly taking place on the streets of London before switching to New York City for a climax that is obviously patterned after the Mount Rushmore scene in Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest (many other Hitchcock “wrong man” thrillers are also shamelessly ripped off here, with the gender change being the only significant variant). Survivor is a weak genre entry, serving up a chain of accidents, coincidences, and hair's-breadth escapes that grow more preposterous as the film progresses. Even diehard espionage devotees are likely to find it a grave disappointment. Not recommended. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include deleted scenes (11 min.), a “making-of” featurette (6 min.), and trailers. Bottom line: a decent extras package for a disappointing thriller.] (F. Swietek)
Survivor
Alchemy, 96 min., PG-13, DVD: $19.99, Blu-ray: $24.99, June 23 Volume 30, Issue 5
Survivor
Star Ratings
As of March 2022, Video Librarian has changed from a four-star rating system to a five-star one. This change allows our reviewers to have a wider range of critical viewpoints, as well as to synchronize with Google’s rating structure. This change affects all reviews from March 2022 onwards. All reviews from before this period will still retain their original rating. Future film submissions will be considered our new 1-5 star criteria.
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